Chasing the Darkness
by StarChylde
Summary: The crew of the Nadesico searches for Akito. And oh, yeah, they save the universe [again]. Postmovie and spoilerfull Reedited
1. Prologue

_Chasing __the Darkness is a continuation of Nadesico that takes place after the movie, __Prince of Darkness.  The Jovian Alliance under Kusakabe Haruki has been overthrown and replaced by a peace-advocating faction led by Genpachirou.  After Kusakabe's followers, the Martian Successors, failed in an attempted takeover bid, Kusakabe surrendered and is currently incarcerated on the Moon.  However they have been weakened, though, the Martian Successors are far from defeated.  Kusakabe's officer Shinjou Aritomo has risen to the forefront, and the rest of the solar system is walking on eggshells, trying not to disturb the delicate peace they now enjoy.  For them, everything rests on the secrets of the Martian Artifact.  _

All the characters from the series (even some of the dead ones), as well as the characters from the movie make appearances, and for the most part, the traditional couples are respected.

I re-uploaded the story after some chapter rearrangement and a few grammatical corrections.  Nothing significant plot-wise was changed.  

Disclaimer: Mobile Battleship Nadesico and its characters do not belong to me no matter how many times I ask for them for Christmas. I've stayed as true as I can to the original storyline but I apologize in advance for any discrepancies that might arise. 

PROLOGUE

"I'm not sure I understand." Misumaru Yurika cocked her head to the side in her usual clueless manner. Ruri sighed, but it was more a sigh of endearment than exasperation. She knew her surrogate mother was brilliant, but you wouldn't think that just from talking to her.

"It's very simple." She said slowly. "I've requested that you be stationed on the Nadesico C."

"But I can't be stationed there, Ruriruri." Yurika protested. "I'm not staying with Nergal. I have to find Akito."

"Baka." Ruri muttered under her breath. "What do you think I'm going to do, Cap…" she stopped herself before she finished the word. Yurika wasn't her captain any longer. She was the captain now. "I want to find him, too. That's why I want _you_ to be the admiral in command, not some stranger."

Yurika studied Ruri carefully. It was a tempting offer—but it wouldn't be the same. She had been the captain of the first Nadesico. Being the admiral of the Nadesico C, with Ruri as its captain no less, would be too strange for her to handle. But then again, nothing was the same anymore. _She_ wasn't the same anymore. She'd have to learn to deal with that, or Akito would never come back to her. "I'll think about it." She told the small white-haired girl. Ruri's blank face revealed nothing, but she knew she had won.

Two standard weeks later, Yurika stood quietly in her place on the Nadesico's bridge, tugging nervously at her new uniform, a ridiculously happy expression painted sloppily across her features. She was careful to keep her guard up when anyone she knew well was around, but if anyone had chanced to look at her closely at this moment would be able to tell that it wasn't a sincere smile. She pulled at the hem of her jacket again. An admiral's uniform wasn't so different from her old captain's uniform, except that instead of a white shirt she wore a white jacket with black shoulders. The bars and stars pinned at her chest were for service out of the line of duty—she had been the first Martian captain to receive the American Purple Heart for valor. Though she was only a one-star admiral, she was almost as decorated as her father, the legendary General Misumaru. Around her neck was a tulip crystal, to serve as a memory of her days during the war with the Jovians. Things had been so simple back then. During that war they had fought with faceless enemies called Lizards—now their enemy was themselves. The Martian Successors had eyes and ears everywhere; Yurika should know. After all, she had been their main computer for three years. 

Ruri's entrance on the bridge drew her from her daydreams. She had once been an eleven-year-old genius under Yurika; now she was her sixteen-year-old daughter and the heir to Yurika's legacy as the captain of the Nadesico. The ship's re-charter and departure had drawn significant media attention, since every crewman was considered a war hero. Besides Yurika and Ruri, Haruka Minato was still at the helm, and Megumi Reinard still the communication's officer. The legendary Aestivalis trio—Izumi, Hikaru, and Ryoko—had also returned as the ship's pilot squadron. Two people Yurika had not known, Ruri's brother Harry and a Jovian pilot whose name always seemed to escape her memory, were also present. The only people missing were Ines, who was working as a first-class jumper still, Aoi Jun, who was commanding his own ship, and Akito.

_Akito,_ Yurika's mind wandered as someone important gave an inaugural speech, _I will find you. And then…_ she paused, frowning. She had been about to think that everything would go back to normal. But she knew it would never be like it was ever again. From what Ruri had told her, Akito had changed so much that he felt he couldn't stay with her. And then there was that strange girl, Lapis Lazuli. Yurika's frown deepened. Well, she would find a way for things to be all right. She could adopt Lapis. She'd adopted Ruri, hadn't she? And she would always love Akito, no matter how much he had changed. She knew his soul, and no matter what else had happened to him, his soul was still his.

After the media dispersed and the Nadesico began her voyage, Yurika returned to her rooms. She smiled slightly as she looked at her new nameplate: _Admiral Tenkawa Yurika_. That plate was proof to her that chasing Akito was not a lost cause. If he had loved her enough to marry her, then he must love her enough to let her find him.

"Cap—I mean Admiral!" a familiar voice said cheerily in the background. Yurika waved and grinned as Uribatake Seiya walked by on his way to the Aestivalis hangar. When she was safely behind the door of her room, however, she let the smile fall away. Everyone seemed to think that she had stayed the same over these lost three years. She understood that they _needed_ her to be the constant, so that they had something familiar to hold to, and so she let them have it. But she knew that it wasn't the truth. She had been scarred more than anyone by the Martian Successors, with the possible exception of Akito himself.

_Akito_, she thought again, staring out her window at the vast starry expanse that surrounded her ship, _What's happened to us?_


	2. Starting Over

Disclaimer: Mobile Battleship Nadesico and its characters do not belong to me, no matter how many times I write to Santa. I must not be on the "Good" list yet.

PART ONE: Starting Over

Tenkawa Akito was dreaming. Well, actually, Akito was sleeping. Lapis Lazuli picked up his dreams in the back of her mind. She had long since gotten over the disconcerting fact that most of her memories were not really hers and they extended to years before she had been born. Usually Akito's dreams involved a blue-haired woman whose name he would not tell.

Now, though, his subconscious thoughts were focused on a cynical young girl. Lapis had her own memories of Hoshino Ruri—their minds had clashed when they both accessed the computer Omoikane. Lapis had pulled away in that encounter; her conversation with Ruri was endangering her connection with Akito and messing up his concentration.

She hadn't, however, given up on the project. Several times she had linked Akito's Aestivalis to the Nadesico's computer. Once she had assured it that she meant no harm, Omoikane was more than willing to let her in. The computer also honored her wish that no one aboard the Nadesico be alerted to her presence. Omoikane loved Akito; it owed him its very existence. Lapis's thought process was identical to Akito's, and her presence and appearance were so close to Hoshino Ruri's that Omoikane viewed her as a combination of the two.

So Lapis continued her study of the Nadesico and its crew unhindered. She had long since discovered the name of the blue-haired woman, as well as the names of all the faces that appeared in Akito's dreams. But those names were sacred to him, so she never spoke them or even thought them for fear of causing him undue pain.

His dream changed beat abruptly, to a lab in a Successor base somewhere. Lapis flinched—Akito's sleep went on undisturbed. It was time like this, she reflected, that she was glad she dreamed for him. His scream echoed through her head, and Lapis closed her eyes painfully. With a rage she seldom felt, she thrust her conscious to the Nadesico's computer, forgetting to cover her tracks for a few moments once she got inside. Someday, with Omoikane's help, she would find that Successor base. And then she and Akito would blow it up, and then his nightmares would end.

Ruri, already connected to Omoikane's sensitive psyche, picked up the familiar pattern immediately. She barely had time to notice the disturbance, though, before it was gone.

_Omoikane._ Ruri thought calmly, _What are you hiding from me?_

_I'm hiding nothing_. The computer answered, and since Omoikane could not lie, Ruri did not question further. Still, Omoikane could be silent if it did not want to tell the truth, and from that point on, Ruri kept an eye out for Akito's signal.

******

"NO FREAKIN" WAY!!!" a voice yelled angrily. There was a *thwack* followed by a muffled *thump,* and then Ryoko's outraged curses started again.

Hikaru and Izumi, both deeply involved in their mangas, didn't even blink when four security officers dragged the recently black-haired pilot past the open doorway and on down the hall. They were followed closely by two more officers carrying a third one, whom Ryoko had knocked out.

"My, she's up in arms." A very calm Inez remarked as the ruckus faded into the distance. "Dentist appointment?" she asked Hikaru.

Hikaru turned a page and answered without looking up. "Anger Management Seminar."

"Bakabaka." Ruri commented from the bridge. Harry blinked twice and returned to his sysop.

Ryoko was pissed off. Not that anyone was surprised; even Megumi had long since stopped asking her why she punched things randomly: walls, chairs, tables, mechanics… it made no difference to her.

But this time, Ryoko was pissed off for a very specific reason. First of all, she did NOT need Anger Management. She controlled her anger just fine. That's what tables and mechanics were for. And second, there was NOW WAY IN HELL she was going to lie down and spill her guts to some know-it-all psychologist…

"Ryoko. Nice to see you. Please have a seat." Erina Won smiled her usual completely suspicious smile as the doors swished open and the security officers shoved Ryoko inside before making their escape. Erina motioned her to one of three chairs. She herself was seated behind a large desk, hands folded on the desktop. Ryoko, mouth open, sat. "Good. Now, tell me what you've been doing since the war while we wait for the others. You dyed your hair, I see. I liked it better green, personally, but I suppose that's a matter of taste…"

"Hold on just a minute!" Ryoko yelled, gathering her wits. "Erina, you're NOT a psychologist!"

"We've been downsizing recently," the other woman informed her coolly. "And since the President didn't die on one of his ridiculously pointless piloting escapades, I'll have to wait a little longer until I can take over Nergal." She picked up a pen and began to toy with it absently. "I've taken up psychology as a kind of hobby until then."

"Oh," Ryoko said. There wasn't much else she _could_ say. Well there was, but no way were the US censors going to allow it to be printed. She wouldn't even bother to try.

The doors slid open once again. Ryoko spat out an indignant expletive and Erina's overly-arched eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch. Uribatake Seiya searched the room for pretty young girls, but after finding only a dominatrix and a crazy woman, plopped down in the seat farthest from Ryoko. 

"I don't want to do group therapy if there aren't any pretty girls to lend a strong arm and a sympathetic ear to." He sniffed primly. Ryoko groaned and fell on the floor. Erina sweatdropped, but before she could make any scathing comments the door opened a third time.

"I'M NOT CRAZY AND I DON'T NEED A SHRINK!" Yukina announced, hands on hips. There was a silence while crickets chirped in the background. She opened her mouth to speak again, but at the blank looks on everyone's faces, she paused. Then, sufficiently deflated, she trudged to the middle seat and slumped down into it. "Sulk, sulk, sulk…" she whispered, arms crossed over her chest. 

Erina sighed again, loudly. Slapping her palms down on the table, she rose and glared at her three patients. "This is an anger management seminar." She said very slowly. "Se-mi-nar. There are no group therapy sessions, no psychoanalyses, and DON'T CALL ME A SHRINK!"

Ryoko, Seiya, and Yukina all sat back, eyes wide. Erina closed her eyes and seemed to compose herself. At least, the vein in her forehead wasn't popping out anymore. "Now that that's settled," she continued in calmer manner, "Let's go over several ways that one can dispel anger. Any suggestions?"

"Kick its ass!" Ryoko yelled.

Erina blinked twice, reached into a desk drawer, and took out a bottle of aspirin.

******

Ruri's face didn't change as she quickly read the screen in front of her, then reread it more slowly. It didn't change as she flicked the window off and hit the communications button on her left arm pad. It didn't change as Yurika's bleary-eyed, pleasantly clueless face popped up on a new window in front of her. It didn't change as she requested the admiral's presence in Conference Room #3. It didn't change as she rose from her seat. But as she left the bridge, heels clacking rhythmically on the hard floor, she bit the corner of her lip.

The only person who noticed the slight change was Harry, and even he couldn't tell whether his captain was holding back a smile or tears. 

Yurika wandered into Conference Room #3 a few minutes after Ruri herself, still yawning and decked out the all the splendor of her panda-covered purple pajamas.

"It's too early to be awake." she complained, plunking down in a chair.

"You're beginning to sound like Minato." Ruri remarked tonelessly. "It's almost 9 o'clock." She didn't have to ask to know that Yurika had slept even less than she had herself, and Yurika hadn't even had to deal with the new developments that Ruri had.

Yurika blinked twice and giggled. "So serious today, Rurichan! Even for you. What's happened?" Her laughter didn't hide the nervous sheen in her eyes. A video window appeared in front of Yurika.

"Read this." Ruri said without any further comment. Yurika skimmed the page, stopped, and reread a sentence. And then again. And finally a third time, mouthing the words to herself.

"...Forming a permanent alliance...?" she asked in quiet disbelief. Ruri nodded slightly.

"From now on, we take orders from Nergal UE." she said grimly. Yurika blanched.

"And those orders are different from our previous ones, I take it?" she tried to sound nonchalant, failed miserably, and ducked her head. Ruri nodded again.

"I specifically asked to be assigned the duty of weeding out the remaining Martian Successor strongholds because it would allow a covert search for him as well." There was no need to clarify who the "him" in question was. "But the military has other ideas."

"We were part of the military once, Rurichan." Yurika snapped harshly. "They took my ship, made us all fugitives, carelessly toyed with the lives of my crew, and worst of all, they lied to all of us."

"I'm well aware of that." Ruri replied calmly. "And I have taken that into consideration while going over our options."

"Then what do you need me for?" Yurika cocked her head in her patented "I'm clueless" manner.

"Tell me what you'd do." Ruri gestured to the file containing the Nadesico's new orders, still hovering unassumingly at Yurika's shoulder. "Would you follow orders, go AWOL again out of principle, or neither? The situation applies to you especially."

Yurika began to read again, brow furrowed in deep thought. Ruri watched her silently. She had already formulated a rough plan in her mind, but she wanted Yurika's input. Not only because she was her former captain and still commanding officer, but for an assurance that she could not have described if called upon to. No matter how successful she became, Ruri had never been able to shake the fear that her movements were too predictable, too readable, like a computer. Creativity and random genius had never been a weak point for the blue-haired captain, however, and besides that, Yurika would have a vested interested in the outcome of the Nadesico's new mission.

At that moment, Yurika flicked off the window and lifted her head, flashing a smile that was perhaps a trifle too brilliant to be believable. "We can do both," she said simply.

A rare smile twitched at the corners of Ruri's mouth. 

_Well done_. Omoikane chimed in.

"Call a general meeting." Ruri told the computer, which beeped in response. Instantly, an SD Aestivallis was delivering the message to every crewman aboard ship.

Megumi and Minato, chatting as they often did when they were incredibly bored, were surprised by the commotion going on down the medical hallway. Megumi's interest peaked when she saw four crewmen wheeling a cot out into the hall, but Minato was more interested in the person following sheepishly after it.

"Yukina!" she began menacingly, marching over to her surrogate sister. "What did you do?"

"Um... well...I... see... Erina... and then she..." 

"Spit it out!"

"She ODed on aspirin." Ryoko remarked casually as she walked by. ("AND GOOD RIDDANCE!" the author interjects.) "Guess that means the seminar is canceled." She paused thoughtfully halfway down the hall. "Too bad." Somehow, she didn't sound all that sorry.

"Is it even possible to overdose on aspirin?" Megumi asked, confused.

"It's possible to overdose on orange juice if you down as much as that woman did." Seiya commented self-righteously as he passed the three women in the same direction as Ryoko. Minato laughed nervously. 

"He's joking, right?"

Somehow, he didn't sound like he was joking.

"Poor Erina..." Megumi said, but in all honesty she didn't sound all that sorry.

"Don't worry." Gort Holy* said, appearing unexpectedly from an unknown direction. "It wasn't fatal."

*_Damn!_* thought Megumi.

"Minato." Holy bowed his head slightly and disappeared into another door a ways down the corridor. Minato blinked and silently wished he wouldn't sneak up on her like that. Then a slight movement caught her attention and she turned back to the matter at hand.

"Yukina..." Minato started again as the girl tried to slink away.

"_It's not my fault I only called her a shrink_!" Yukina yelled right before a window popped up right in her face.

_Please come_. The screen read as a bunch of pixilated Aestivallis walked across the bottom. Yukina went crossed-eyed trying to read it up close.

"What's this?" Minato asked. 

"A broadcast at 14:00?" Megumi read. "That's in fifteen minutes. What's happened?"

Yukina took the opportunity to escape.

****** 

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

*POP*

**Yurika** (clad in bunny suit): Welcome to the "How and Why of Nadesico: Fanfic Version!" I'm Tenkawa Yurika!

**Ruri**: I'm Hoshino Ruri.

**Ines**: And I'm Ines Fresange. Today we will be discussing the recent merge of Nergal Heavy Industries and the United Earth Federal Forces....

**Yurika**: And what that's going to do to our mission!

**Ines**: Correct. You see, due to recent economic developments stemming from the delays in the Hisago Plan and the destruction of the Amaterasu colony, the United Forces was losing vast amounts of money to rebudgeting. Even though the immediate threat from the Martian Successors has been nullified with the recapture of the Martian Artifact and the surrender of their official leader, several branches of the Successors remain fully active. They are biding their time and looking for a weak place to strike. In light of that knowledge, Nergal and United Earth have joined forces to prevent the impending economic crisis.

**Yurika**: So, simply put, that means the military will be issuing our paychecks?

**Ines**: True. 

(pause)

**Ruri**: Bakabaka.

**Ines**: Also, the information that the Martian Artifact causes cell mutation has been leaked to the general public by an anonymous source...

**Ruri**: ...Named Akatsuki Nagare...

**Ines**: ... And the people of Earth have decided to return the Artifact to its native Mars.

**Yurika**: Generous of them...

**Ines**: As all of you know, the cell mutation allows ordinary people such as the Admiral, myself...

**Yurika**: ... And Akito!

**Ines**: ...And other A-class jumpers to boson jump. While the people of Earth would welcome such jumpers, they are not too eager to become those jumpers themselves, in effect proving that....

******

"I'm confused." Harry said, staring at the colorful screen with a blank expression. "I thought Ines-san wasn't _on_ the Nadesico."

"She is an A-class jumper-- I'm assuming she can go wherever she wants." Saburota answered, sticking his blond head over Harry's shoulder.

"AHHH!" Harry shrieked, all the windows in his dome vanishing with his loss of concentration. "Don't DO that!"

"Jeez, Harry, you act like you have something to hide." Saburota said slyly. "Besides, I thought you knew Ines pretty well."

"NOT LIKE THAT YOU PERVERT!" Harry yelled.

"Sure, whatever." Saburota answered, completely unimpressed, and returned to his seat while Harry fumed and everyone on the bridge stared. On the screens, Ines cleared her throat.

******

**Ines**: Now that I have your attention again, I will let the captain explain our new mission.

**Ruri**: Thank you. In short, our new mission is to bring the Artifact back to Mars.

"Waah???" was the collective response from the crew of the Nadesico. Ruri paused to allow the information to sink in.

**Yurika** (in an utterly scripted manner): Could you explain in more detail?

**Ruri**: Certainly. The general idea is that using a chulip from the Serandala colony, the Nadesico will boson jump back to Earth. Since the Artifact cannot be transported, we will manually guide it to Mars. Once there, we will continue to guard and study the Artifact under the guidance of a selected scientific team-- of which Ines-san is the head-- while we await further orders.

******

"So _that's_ why she's on the Nadesico!" Harry announced triumphantly. Saburota shot him a look and Harry stuck his tongue out at him.

Precisely at that moment, red lights began flashing overhead and the alarms sounded throughout the entire ship.

******

*** Gort Holy: I realize his name is most often spelled Goat Hory but I like Gort Holy better. Even though Gort is still a stupid name at least it's not as bad as Goat and Holy is an infinite improvement over Hory. So sue me. Besides, in Japanese "l" and "r" are interchangeable, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch. And if you come right down to it, it's my fanfic and I'll call him what I want.**

******

"What's going on?" Yurika asked as she followed Ruri onto the bridge.

"We're being attacked from all sides!" Harry reported, frantically typing commands in several different windows. 

"But who is it?" Megumi slid into her seat, wincing slightly as the siren blared directly over her head. 

"Unknown." Harry said shortly, raising a new window.

"Bring up a data analysis." Ruri's calm voice broke through the tension building around Harry. "Distortion field up. And please put a picture on the main screen."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded, his fingers rapidly moving over his keyboard. What came up on the screen revealed a fleet so vast that it practically filled the window. A silence settled on the bridge as everyone waited tensely for Ruri's orders. Everyone but Yurika, that is, who seemed preoccupied.

"Aestivallis, stand by." Ruri commanded, magnifying the window until she could make out the ships clearly.

"Ready." Ryoko's window popped up next to Ruri's left arm.

"All set and ready to fly!!" Hikaru chirped, her face appearing on the captain's right.

"'When the time to perform is present, the time to prepare is past.'" Izumi quoted. Ruri paid little attention to them as Harry's analysis opened in front of her just as the main screen finished zooming in.

"That's a Jovian ship, isn't it?" Minato asked, exchanging looks with Megumi.

"Well, that doesn't seem right." Saburota's window appeared obnoxiously in the center of the main window. "The Jovian government has no reason to want to stop the Nadesico."

"It's not just Jovian ships." Ruri ignored Saburota's placement and addressed everyone who could hear her, turning the main window's view a few degrees to the left. 

"That's the _Sunflower!_" Megumi cried unexpectedly. "What's a United Earth battle cruiser doing here?" she sounded frantic.

"I thought they wanted us to take the Artifact to Mars." Minato said. "Why are they trying to blow us up?"

"That's not the only question." Prospector added as he entered the bridge. "According to my data, the _Sunflower_ is currently undergoing repairs in the New York spaceport."

"Megumi, try to establish contact with them," Ruri ordered. "Find out what they want."

"All I'm getting is static!!!" Megumi was near tears as she watched the _Sunflower_ try to break through the Nadesico's distortion field.

"Minato..." Ruri began, but Yurika chose that moment to break out of her paralysis, practically diving across Harry to reach Ruri's console and giving him a rather interesting view in the process. Not that he was looking or anything.

"LAUNCH AESTIVALLIS!" she screamed. "NOW!"

"Yurika-san..." Ruri began in shock, but the blue-haired woman was already pressing the launch buttons and the Aesti pilots were only too eager to do their jobs.

"Roger!" Ryoko's window vanished.

"It's a go!" Saburota also disappeared.

"Go-go-go!" Hikaru recited cheerily.

"Go-go-Boots!" That from Izumi, who then promptly began humming "These Boots Were Made For Walking."

The distortion field flickered as the robots broke the barrier; luckily, the Nadesico did not take any crucial hits at that time. The four pilots then began to chatter easily amongst themselves while they gleefully went about the task of destroying enemy drones. Though no vital damage had been done, Ruri could not understand why Yurika had endangered the ship like that. She turned back to the admiral, who was still punching buttons.

"We're about to be boarded!" she cried frantically. "Clear the hangar!"

Ruri and the others had little time to wonder if their third admiral had gone crazy like the last one before Harry cried out, "Boson jump detected, deck twelve! It's inside the ship!"

"_Clear the hangar!"_ Yurika yelled once more before she vanished. Ruri, though startled, was quite positive she had seen Yurika's face glowing long before she had jumped.

The sirens went off once more. 

_Deck Twelve damaged._ Omoikane reported. The main window switched scenes just in time to show a way-too-familiar Aestivallis blow a hole through the side of the ship and launch itself at the distortion field, debris and spare parts from the hangar floating off after it into space.

"Seal off the Aestivallis hangar!" Ruri told Harry shortly, her IFS beginning to glow as she connected with Omoikane. "Preparing to drop the distortion field."

"_What?_" Minato, Megumi, and Harry all shouted.

"Captain, if you drop the distortion field..." Harry began.

"No time to explain." Ruri cut in as the field dropped. Instantly the ship was bombarded with laser fire. Ruri hit the communications button on her arm pad. Immediately, Ines appeared in a small window to her left. "Ines-san, prepare to jump the Nadesico to Earth's moon."

"To Earth's _moon?"_ Eyebrows raised, she regarded the silver-haired captain curiously.

"Yes." was Ruri's only reply.

"All right..." Ines' window went down. Ruri hit a second button without another moment's hesitation.

"Admiral, please report to the observation deck for a class three emergency." Since she didn't know Yurika's location, her announcement blared over the intercom, temporarily silencing the sirens that were giving Megumi a headache. The Aestivallis that had blown a hole in the hangar was busy wreaking havoc on other parts of the ship. Miraculously (perhaps), it had not yet damaged any of the Nadesico's vital systems. However, smaller systems were going out all over the ship and the robot was making a dreadful nuisance of itself.

"What are we going to do about that Aestivallis?" Harry asked, completely oblivious to his companions' confusion. "We could take it out with one blast from the starboard thruster cannons."

"No." Ruri replied calmly. She watched silently as her ship was pummeled, waiting for Omoikane's scans to tell her how many ships they were up against. She knew she was taking a risk by leaving the distortion field down, but it would cut the scan time almost in half. If Yurika could still bring herself to jump the Nadesico, they only had three minutes until they would be gone. "Pilots, return to the ship." she ordered, and shut off the communications system so that she couldn't hear their exclamations when they saw the alien Aestivallis destroying the Nadesico's exterior.

******

"Akito..." Lapis's blank eyes stared at the nothingness in front of her, but her mind was thousands of miles away.

"I know." Akito answered tonelessly.

"Should we go?"

"Not yet." Akito paused, letting his nanomachines boost the original power of the Aestivallis. The IFS in his hand glowed much brighter than it had when he had first begun his reluctant piloting, in part because of the strong waves of bitterness, anger, and despair sweeping over him. Lapis automatically adjusted to accommodate for his mental state, but was surprised that he did not order her to go even after his robot had reached full power.

"They're preparing to jump." she commented cautiously. "If we don't go now, you'll miss them."

"Not yet." Akito said again, softer this time. He pressed his lips together until they showed white around the edges. _This isn't me_, he wanted to yell at Lapis. _You sit there and plan for my moods like it's nothing. But it's not me. I'm not like this!_

And still he waited. His hand clenched around the control sphere in his Aestivallis until the knuckles turned white and shook with the pressure, but he still waited. Lapis sat still and said nothing.

******

Yurika jumped into the hangar just as the intruder appeared. As she observed the situation, her thoughts were focused on one thing: No more funerals.

"I won't let Ruri do all those services!" she yelled passionately, rushing towards the blue and black throng gathered in a corner. The engineers, all attempting to flee for their lives, were crowded around the far door. At the moment Yurika reached Seiya's side, the Aestivallis ripped a hole through the Nadesico's exterior and vanished out into space. 

The setup was actually as close to perfect as if she had planned it herself. Men can survive for 13.5 seconds in the vacuum of space, and since all the engineers had latched on to other engineers to keep from being swept into space after the Aestivallis, Yurika only had to grab one of them and jump to save them all.

******

So far her luck had held out, but when she reappeared on the observation deck with a bunch of engineers bawling like babies in tow, only to find Ines waiting for her with space jumping equipment, Yurika quailed. Memories flickered through her mind; bittersweet ones of when she had tried to turn back time and Akito had stopped her and then he had kissed her for the first time and then the war had ended and they went back to Earth and watched Gekigangar and then they got married except all of that was gone because the Successors had shot Akito down and kidnapped him and done horrible terrible things to him... Before she knew it, she was hyperventilating.

"Yurika." Ines said, as if sensing her inner turmoil. The change from subconscious psychobabble to that rational voice was so much for Yurika that she almost didn't notice that Ines had called her by name. She couldn't remember that happening ever before. Surprisingly, that thought calmed her down considerably. Still...

"I can't... I can't concentrate that much. I can't jump the Nadesico." Yurika stammered, but Ines took her hand and looked her straight in the eyes while she hooked the jump-boosting equipment to her head, brushing the blue hair away in a motherly fashion.

"You need to do this, Yurika." she said in a calm, soothing voice. "You need it to help you get over the trauma of the past three years." Seeing that her explanation was still unconvincing, Ines added, "The captain has taken down the distortion field. If you don't help me then Ruri and Megumi and Minato and everyone else will die."

In actuality, Ines had jumped the Nadesico before and was quite capable of doing it again-- but it would tax her strength to such a degree that she would be of absolutely no use should an emergency arise in the next few weeks. And besides, what she had said was true. Yurika needed an outlet for all her fears and pent-up emotions or she may end up doing something she would deeply regret.

Taking a deep breath, Yurika nodded her assent and clasped Ines' other hand. The glow already surrounding Yurika grew to encase Ines as well. 

The engineers went back to cowering in the corner.

******

"Lapis... go." Akito said. Lapis leapt into action immediately, but knew that it was too late to rendezvous with the Nadesico C. She was tempted to scold him for his cowardice, but suspected from his mood that there was a purpose in the delay in his bosom jump. So she hid her disappointment from him and let him have his way.

******

Harry had had about enough. First new orders that he didn't understand had come in, and then they had been randomly attacked by the biggest fleet he had ever seen, the admiral that everyone on the ship emulated so much had apparently lost her mind right before his eyes, the communications officer Megumi was crying bitterly at her console, some strange Aestivallis that could have been easily destroyed was being allowed to have playtime with the Nadesico's hull, and the Captain was watching the enemy destroy her ship as if she were playing solitaire. And then, as if that wasn't enough, the universe had to go throwing in yet another factor that everyone seemed to understand but him.

"Captain!" Ryoko cried, her window popping up two inches over Harry's head. "Look at this!"

For the first time since Harry had known her, the Captain looked truly stunned. She had been surprised before, and even shocked, but this was the very first time he had ever seen her looking like she had no idea what to do. Quickly, he turned to the main window to see what was so surprising that even the Captain didn't know what to make of it.

All he saw was a ship that looked slightly familiar in a sort of deja-vu sense. Harry cursed the universe. The true implications of what was happening only hit him when Minato whispered, almost in awe, "That's the..."

And Ryoko answered in an irritated, confused shout. "That's the original Nadesico, dammit! You know, the one that's supposed to be in dry dock indefinitely?"

And then Harry recognized it. Still, the full impact of the legendary ship's appearance was lost on him until he saw energy gathering in its center.

"They're firing their beam cannon at _us?!"_ he yelled incredulously. A red emergency window popped up in front of him. Great, more unexpected twists. "Boson jump, three o'clock!" he announced.

Ruri opened her mouth to speak, but before any sound came out the bridge began to glow.

******

On the observation deck, the jump was going as planned. Then Ines felt a familiar presence jumping into a space nearby. Yurika felt it too; her eyes snapped open, widening so much that the white showed all the way around.

"Akito!" she exclaimed softly, losing her concentration.

Had Ines not have kept the image of Earth's moon in her mind and her grip on Yurika's hands so she could draw from her energy, the Nadesico C would have failed to make the jump. 

But even though the jump was a complete success, as was Ruri's plan, almost everyone was left in the depths of depression.  Especially Yurika, who cried because she had missed Akito by a fraction of a second, Megumi, who cried for a reason yet unknown to everyone, and Prospector, who cried because the damage the Nadesico had sustained was going to make a major dent in his budget.


	3. Twists in Time

Disclaimer: Yada yada yada, MBN doesn't belong to me, Santa refuses to give it to me, so does Kia Asamiya, the usual. Don't sue me, I'm a student and I'm about as broke as you can get.

PART TWO: Twists in Time

_*Note* This is where the confusing time stuff begins to happen.  For the rest of the story, normal timelines are like _this_, and screwy timelines are like _**this.Normal, ****screwy, normal, ****screwy.  Got it?**

_Ruri's log:_

_We've successfully managed to jump the Nadesico C and are currently orbiting the dark side of Earth's moon, hidden from Mars by Earth's shadow and hidden from Earth by the moon. We have approximately one hour to find out what the meaning of last episode's attack was before the UE fleet will discover our location and can boson jump to our position. As of now, the damage to the Nadesico is of an unconfirmed caliber; however, it is certain that the ship cannot stand another attack of the force we just encountered. The idiots down in engineering haven't stopped complaining yet-- as if their whining is going to make the hull fix itself. Adults are so stupid sometimes._

The chaos on the bridge was mind-boggling. Windows displaying confused and angry crewmen were popping up everywhere. Harry was swatting them away from his dome frantically while Minato stomped on a few that annoyed her too much. Yukina, who had shown up just after the jump, and Megumi had stationed themselves on either side of Ruri's chair and were both asking more questions to no one in particular than could possibly be heard, much less comprehended and answered, while dancing around nervously. Prospector was doing a damage report, and the cost was apparently causing him enough distress that he ran his hand through his hair every few seconds and sighed. The Aesti pilots were making a general nuisance of themselves, windows flying about with outraged faces demanding to know why Akatsuki's robot had blown a hole through the Nadesico and who the hell did that guy think he _was_, anyway, and jeez, Ryoko, you're really excitable... Well, that from Saburota.

Ruri wasn't paying attention; she was hooked up to Omoikane and was using the IFS to analyze the Nadesico's situation. They calculated that the fleet which had attacked them was made up of over one hundred war ships and at least a thousand drones and lower level Aestivallis, all either Jovian or UE origin except one: The first Nadesico, which had been thrashed almost to destruction during the Jovian War. From what Ruri could tell, though, not only was the Nadesico A acting as well as it had on its first mission, its power output was several times greater than usual.

That wasn't the only strange thing-- Omoikane had identified at least forty ships that were either in indefinite dry-dock, had been reported missing or captured during the war, or were currently undergoing repairs or missions far from the coordinates of the ambush.

_Like the _Sunflower. Ruri thought. Just as Megumi had claimed, the UE battle cruiser was resupplying in the New York spaceport. She didn't have the time to speculate on Megumi's uncanny knowledge of the subject, but stored the question away for later debate. Forty misplaced ships seemed like and awful lot. And these were only the UE ships--the Jovians had their own records.

Harry broke into her link with Omoikane as tactfully as he could.

"Nagare Akatsuki is trying to open communications." he reported sheepishly. "Should we answer him?"

Since no one but the people on the ship knew of the Nadesico's position, Nagare's presence meant he had a mole on the ship-- and one other than Erina, who had been relieved of duty and sent back to Earth in a comatose condition. But there wasn't time to deal with that now. Ruri nodded her assent, and was almost instantly bombarded with the general ruckus on the bridge, compounded by the contrast to the unearthly silence she had enjoyed in Omoikane's presence. As soon as Akatsuki's face appeared on the main screen, however, everyone fell silent to hear what he had to say. Everyone except the Aestivallis pilots, that is, whose complaints doubled in number and in volume. The chairman of Nergal cheerfully told them all to shut up, in not such polite terms. When he had everyone's complete attention, he began.

"I've been informed that there's been an attack." he said. Ruri quieted the immediate rush of angry comments with a wave of her hand.

"There has."

"Casualties?"

"None, but the ship has taken a beating."

Nagare raised an eyebrow. "And you chose to boson jump to the remotest spot on Earth's moon that you could, when a simple jump to the Utopia colony would have seen ample opportunity for repairs."

Ruri didn't even blink. "We couldn't be sure what the intent of the attack was, or who the enemy was."

Akatsuki frowned. "That should be obvious. The Successors must have planned it."

Before anyone could say a word, a voice unfamiliar to the bridge broke in. "That's where you're wrong, Sir." Everyone turned to see a man in his late twenties, dressed in the blue of the engineering officers, standing with hands on hips just behind Ruri. Most recognized him as Lieutenant James Shizuka, an ambitious Japanese-American man with a spotless record, who had signed on just recently as Seiya's personal assistant (and in Hikaru's latest doujinshi, lover). "The Successors had nothing to do with ambushing the Nadesico with a space fleet. However," at this, Shizuka pulled away the collar of his uniform to revealed a beige and red outfit underneath, "We _do_ have everything to do with _this._"

The bridge doors flew open and men dressed in Successor livery rushed inside, armed to the teeth. Shizuka pulled out a small revolver, placing the barrel loosely at Ruri's temple while he wrapped his left arm around her neck.

Cries of protest rose throughout the room, and Harry would have leapt at Shizuka if Minato hadn't grabbed his arm.

"I would suggest that you keep your hands where I can see them." Shizuka smiled cruelly, "Or there will be unnecessary bloodshed." He turned to address Akatsuki. "The Nadesico is ours, fool." he said cheerfully. "Along with the A-class jumpers and, incidentally, our ticket to unlocking the Artifact." He glanced down at Ruri. "And a new electronic fairy to play with. What say we hook you up to the Artifact with the 'admiral' and see what happens?"

"Let her go, you sicko!" Harry yelled, and Minato clapped a hand over his mouth just as Yukina elbowed him in the stomach. Shizuka ignored them. At his nod, one of the Successors cut the communication line and Nagare's face vanished. With that, Shizuka's men began to herd the group on the bridge together and then march them out into the hallway. Harry, with Minato's smothering hand still over his nose and mouth, fought the whole way out.

******

**Akito destroyed several drones and quite a few Aestivallis to cool the hard rage building in his heart before he answered the call from the Nadesico A. The fact that static was the only thing he saw didn't surprise him too much. A quick signal to Lapis and she hacked into Omoikane, using the Nadesico's own system to establish contact.**

**"Akito?" Yurika's face, full of hope and disbelief, appeared in front of him. Akito kept his face emotionless. Her outfit was different, but she didn't look any older than the last time he had seen her. Not that he was surprised. She was still only twenty-three, because the last three years hadn't existed for her. It was as if the whole universe had tried to pass her by-- but it had fallen apart without her. It made him sick to think about it. It made it even worse to know that he could miss anyone that badly. And to know that she was so close and yet he still couldn't reach out to her.**

**"Go back," he ordered, his voice like ice. "You've made a mistake."**

**"Akito!" she began again, her eyes going wide with hurt and surprise. "What...?"**

**He cut the transmission.**

******

The first Ines knew of their situation was when the Successors came to take Yurika away. Drained emotionally and physically, the other woman had passed out. Ines had brought them back to her room and was watching over her so she wouldn't have to be alone when she woke. Not that her intentions would have mattered. The man who picked up the admiral wasn't concerned with her mental welfare. And the ones who took Ines's arms and led her away could care less what the blonde woman wanted.

Apparently, they also didn't care who heard their conversation. Ines picked up several useful tidbits of info while listening to their banter on her way to-- well, wherever they were taking her. The Successors wanted the Artifact. That was pretty much a given. But Ines found out that there was _something_, something very large and much too big to jump using chulip crystals, that the Successors wanted to move. For that, they needed the Artifact and someone to control it-- Yurika preferably but Ines would do if the admiral screwed the operation like she had the last time.

Ines shuddered. Judging from her analysis of Yurika's mental state, being hooked up to the Artifact had the tendency to blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Yurika was a hopeless romantic who lived in her dream world anyway, which was why she hadn't gone crazy or developed any of the most dangerous side effects that could have been generated from close contact with the alien technology. Ines doubted she could stand losing her rationality like that.

******

**"Captain?" Eri asked worriedly, turning to Yurika. "What are we going to do?"**

**"If we had more time I could trace the jump." Jun offered faintly.**

**Erina, seeing the glazed "I'm-about-to-cry" look in Yurika's eyes, took the opportunity to break in. "Our mission is to destroy the Nadesico C." she reminded everyone sharply. "And Akito jumped at exactly the same time as the Nadesico. He knew you'd be distracted by _him_, Captain, so you couldn't trace the ship. And now he tells us to back off. Why is that? _Well?"_**

**Yurika didn't move. Erina, eyes flashing, slammed her hand down on the console. "It's a trick. He's with _them_. There's no other explanation. Captain, I've held my tongue for a long time..."**

**"Ten minutes hardly counts as long..." Mikako commented dryly. Erina shot her a death look.**

**"...But I don't think your method of trusting gut instincts is a good one! I realize that you have feelings for him, and so do the rest of us, but you can't disregard the circumstances!"**

**"Wrong." Yurika said flatly. "You're wrong. I know Akito." She paused for a moment, pieces of the puzzle falling into place. "The Successors want the Artifact, but they obviously haven't got it yet." she said. "The Artifact is in the ****Osaka**** spaceport. That's where we'll go."**

**"Captain!" Erina snapped, but Yurika turned on her with equal determination. **

**"****Osaka**** spaceport." she repeated. "Now. We'll use the chulip in Serandala. And Jun, patch me through to Akatsuki. He should be able to tell me what I want to know."**

**_Akito..._**** she thought as she exited the bridge and swept angrily down the hall, _That was unnecessarily cruel._**

******

Ever since Amaterasu colony had been destroyed, Mayumi had been out of a job. Not that it would have mattered anyway, since she didn't really believe in the Hisago Plan any longer. Besides, that stupid pink wig had made her head itch like crazy. And children were not her thing.

And since Nergal did not require a) belief in the Hisago Plan, b) pink wigs and pink vinyl outfits, or c) annoying, screaming children, as part of their job description, Mayumi decided that Nergal was the place to be. The secretary at the service desk had politely turned her away, however, saying that new standards for officers had been enacted since their merger with the United Earth forces, and all tour guide positions had been filled.

Mayumi thought her line of work in space was finished, but at that moment the man standing behind her said, "Wait just a moment..." His nameplate said "Misumaru," and Mayumi realized that she was standing next to a very important person.

The very important person wasn't looking very important at the moment, though. He was stroking his mustache thoughtfully and muttering "Mayumi, Mayumi..." under his breath. Then, suddenly, his face brightened in understanding. "You were on Amaterasu, weren't you?"

"Yes, sir." Mayumi bowed as low as she could in her tight black miniskirt. 

"Yes, yes, I remember now," General Koichiro Misumaru said pleasantly. "Ruri--that is, Captain Hoshino-- wrote quite a nice little paragraph about you in her reports."

"She did?!" Mayumi asked in astonishment. Koichiro nodded. 

"Well of course. It was thanks to you that she escaped Amaterasu and got to the Nadesico in time to save my daughter." He started to tear up.

Mayumi didn't know quite what to say, but apparently, she didn't have to say anything. General Misumaru turned to the secretary and picked up Mayumi's resume. "You have an IFS and an interspacial license?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Everyone on Amaterasu had them so they could operate machinery." Mayumi explained. "And driving tour carts was part of my job. I had to be licensed."

Koichiro read over the rest of the sheet quickly, then smiled at her reassuringly. Follow me." he said, and Mayumi found herself with a job.

******

Shinjou Aritomo closed the message from Shizuka on the Nadesico C and prepared to implement the second part of his plan. Kusakabe-san had been in prison much too long, he decided.

******

"Can't anyone ever design hotel rooms any _differently_?" Eri cried, tossing her duffel bag on the flowery coverlet. "I swear, I don't even know where we _are _anymore!"

"Tokyo Hyatt Regency." Harumi supplied, grabbing a Snickers from the minibar.

"Oh, get out of my way!" Eri retorted, bumping Harumi with her hip and going straight after the beer.

"You know..." Mikako began, but stopped as Eri and Harumi got into a fight over the minibar. Sayuri pushed them both out of the way and took a bottled water from the tiny refrigerator, glaring in mock-anger at the other two until they shut up.

"What were you saying, Mika?" Junko asked, looking up from her manga obliviously.

"It's just that-- don't get me wrong, I love doing shows and all-- but it's just that..." Mikako picked up their tour poster from the bed next to Junko. "...We're Howmei Girls!" she exclaimed. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"I miss Howmei." Junko sighed finally.

"I miss _cooking_!" Harumi said, making a face at her slightly stale candy bar.

"I wonder how Howmei is doing?" Sayuri asked. The was another pause as all the girls stared at each other.

"Let's find out!" Eri shouted gleefully, already grabbing her things.

And that was why the five Howmei girls missed their seven o'clock concert and were spotted by a group of rabid fanboys on the fastest train to Kyoto (which is the Bullet Train, if the author isn't mistaken...).

Two days later, the girls' manager held a press conference in which he announced that their next album was being postponed while the Howmei Girls served a tour of duty for Nergal UE. What happened to Eri, Junko, Mikako, Harumi, and Sayuri in those two days is anyone's guess.

******

Ruri surveyed the brig calmly, her face a mask of impassive blankness despite the leers and rude comments she received from the guards who patrolled periodically. 

Minato envied her. That kind of control would be useful at times. Times when she let her mind wander too far; back to days that she wished never happened. Times like this, when she realized that people who were supposed to be dead kept popping back into her life, but the one person who she _really_ wanted to come back never could.

She shook her head. There was no point drowning in self-pity right now. But what else was there to do? Hope that a lucky break got them out of prison? Depend on someone else to make an escape? Minato had thought about escape-- nothing she could come up with would get everyone off the ship safely. First of all, Yurika and Ines were nowhere to be found. Ruri was in the cell across from her, isolated completely. The Aesti pilots were in a cell a little ways down the corridor, and Megumi, Harry, Yukina and Prospector were in the room on her right. Minato was stuck with Gort and Seiya and the only two engineers who _hadn't _turned out to be Martian Successors. Who hired those new crewmen, anyway? Akatsuki must be slipping. Seiya was fuming about not being stuck in a cell with that cute new cook until Gort informed him that she was Shizuka's second-in-command. After that, Seiya began fuming that Akatsuki's Aesti had gotten upgrades that no one had informed _him_ of and that it had gone and swept all of his toys out into space after it blew up his hangar. Minato didn't care-- Howmei had been a much better cook, anyway, and she was completely uninterested in Aestivallis. 

And that was their situation-- pretty dismal. Well, looking at the bright side, they hadn't been ejected into space yet. That was pretty much the only bright side. Minato hoped Yukina was giving the guards as much trouble as she could and then sat back and started fuming with Seiya.

******

Ruri, on the other hand, was extremely busy. Apparently, Shizuka didn't know all of Omoikane's capabilities, or if he did, he didn't know what to do about them. He wasn't the Captain, so he couldn't remove the Nadesico's master key, and Omoikane had a firewall created by the best hackers in the business. So he'd just locked her in a room devoid of anything computerized. Except that Harry had taught Ruri a nice little lesson about converting basic wiring into terminal uplinks not two weeks ago. It had taken her a little time, but she'd managed to open the panel behind her and turn the air conditioning unit inside out-- she was currently having a conversation with Omoikane via what was once the input/output cable for temperature command. And, being Ruri, she had remembered to set the temperature to a comfortable sixty degrees before she'd disabled the circuit. She didn't understand why adults tended to think of her in condescending terms because she was only sixteen. How stupid of them. They'd figured that their surveillance cameras would display anything she might try to pull; she wondered if it ever occurred to the Successors that Omoikane had been jamming their system for hours.

But Omoikane couldn't provide her with a plausible escape plan, and Ruri was drawing the same blanks Minato had. She had no way to guarantee everyone's safety, especially since she couldn't locate Yurika or Ines anywhere. But this wasn't like the time they'd recaptured the Nadesico, when she'd had weeks to prepare. The Nadesico would reach Osaka within hours. The city had already undoubtedly been taken by the Successors, otherwise Shizuka would never have bragged to Akatsuki about taking over the Nadesico. Once there, the crew would either be put to death or end up like Akito. She couldn't allow that to happen, but could not find a way to take back her ship within that time. That left her with no choice other than to leave Ines and Yurika behind and trust them both to be able to get away on their own. Who knows? Perhaps they had already gotten away and that was why there was no trace of them on the ship. She left an encoded message with Omoikane to deliver anyway and then started to put her plan into action.

******

"What the hell are you doing?" Shizuka demanded. Yamasaki Yoshio looked up from the lab table, looking slightly sheepish. 

"Waiting." he responded simply, nodding at Yurika's prone form.

"Have you fixed the sensors?" Shizuka asked, looking at the wires that crisscrossed overhead. Yoshio nodded again.

"As long as the bionet isn't disturbed, the ship's sensors won't be able to pick up any organic life forms in this area at all." 

Shizuka paused, looking around. He was trying to think of something to complain about, but at the moment he couldn't think of anything else.

"I've never seen her awake, you know." Yoshio commented to no one in particular, turning his attention back to Yurika. "I hear she has a quite captivating voice."

Shizuka thought Yoshio's little obsession with the woman was creepy; twisted, to say the least, but refrained from saying so as the balance of this operation rested solely on this man's knowledge of the workings of the Artifact. But that didn't mean that he had to like the man.

"Do you have the...uh...supplies?" he asked, shifting slightly.

Yoshio nodded and picked up a stack of comic books. "_Ururun_. Ironic, isn't it?" he asked, flipping through the manga. "In this issue, the heroine is kidnapped and the hero has to save her."

Shizuka shivered. "Don't use that one." he ordered, turning to leave. "That's too strange. Now if you're done here, come and help the idiots on the bridge break down the computer's firewall. We're already several hours behind schedule."

"I wouldn't worry too much, sir." Yoshio commented as the doors closed behind them. "If our Princess's knight in shining armor was going to show up to save her, he would have done it by now."

(Oh ye of little faith... the author sighs.)

******

Ines watched Yoshio and Shizuka's conversation through the plexiglass panes in her cell. Even though she couldn't hear a word they said through the walls, the whole episode made her skin crawl. She resolved to turn her mind to other matters.

She had, of course, already formulated a plan of escape. However, it only allowed for Yurika and herself, seeing as the brig was on the lower decks and Ines was being held on the opposite side of the ship, in the medical center near the Aestivallis Hangar. She glared angrily at what was once her office and workroom, which had been transformed by the mess of wires covering everything and the presence of some large scale jumping equipment. And her operating table had apparently been turned into an altar of some sort, judging from how Yurika's body had been arranged on it with her arms folded across her chest and hair cascading over the sides. At least they hadn't seen the thin chain under the collar of Yurika's uniform. Ines' whole plan depended upon the fact that Yurika was wearing a TC around her neck, and could therefore transport them both safely all the way to Earth with little tax on her strength. If Yoshio got his hands on that crystal, they would have to depend on one of them getting worked up enough to trigger a jump. Ines preferred not to take that risk. The only thing left to plan was how to get out of her prison when she was under constant surveillance. Ironically, she was depending on something straight out of Gekigangar-- any old school anime, for that matter. The idea that villains had to gloat to someone was her only hope for escape. 

Ines stood up and started pacing, trying to come up with something better than that. The pure ridiculousness of her schemes set her teeth on edge. She finally gave herself a little peace by rationalizing that she couldn't do anything until Yurika woke up, anyway.

******

Hikaru was in a reflective mood. She didn't know why-- the three of them had never been in prison before, and especially not with Saburota. But she just couldn't help thinking about the first Nadesico, and the Jovian War, and now the Nadesico C... She had joined Nergal because everything about her old life had reminded her of her ex-boyfriend. When she found she had a knack for piloting, she had signed on under Ryoko with no hesitation. And she had never regretted that decision. Even though they were sitting in the brig of their own ship waiting for... well, waiting for something bound to be less than pleasant. She still didn't regret signing on.

While her thoughts had brought Hikaru some peace, Ryoko's were driving her and everyone else crazy. She was pacing and muttering to herself, every now and then coming up with a ridiculously complicated escape plan that would never work. Izumi was sitting in a corner in shock, unable to believe that the Successors had been as callous as to take her ukulele away. In fact, Saburota seemed to be the only one completely at ease. He was lounging across the bench in the back, next to Hikaru, with one leg crossed over the other and arms behind his head so his elbows stuck out. Hikaru thought that Jovians were very strange, but no one else seemed to take any notice of his behavior until he began to whistle "Yellow Rose of Texas."

At that point, Ryoko snapped.

"_What the hell is wrong with you?!"_ she yelled, punching his shoulder as hard as she could. "Aren't you even _worried_? Don't you care about what happens to any of us? Don't you care about what happens to the _Captain_?! _What the hell are you thinking?!"_

"Ow..." Saburota began as Ryoko kept right on yelling about how stupid he was, and emphasizing each statement with a punch. Finally, he clamped one hand over her mouth and wrapped her in a headlock just to get her to shut up.

"If you don't stop pacing, you'll wear a hole in the carpet." he informed her as she futilely tried to break his grip. "Don't you trust the Captain?"

Ryoko stopped struggling, eyes wide. Hikaru's mouth dropped and Izumi uncurled from her ball as all three pilots stared at the blond Jovian.

"What kind of ship did that Yurika woman run, that you don't have any faith in your captains?" he asked, still holding Ryoko (who was turning a little purple). "The Captain has always done a good job before. We just have to wait for her to think up a plan, and then we'll be out."

He released her, and Ryoko sank to her knees, gasping for breath. She didn't really have an answer to Saburota's accusation. She had thought Yurika was a very good captain, and she had always pulled through in the end. And she did trust Ruri with her life, but she just couldn't wait around...not that there was any choice.

"Out, out and about..." Izumi was getting a little louder each time she spoke, and with each word unwound herself a little more. Within no time, she was well on her way to returning to her unusual self. "But not with trout..."

"I _hate_ doing nothing." Ryoko growled, settling angrily on the floor. Saburota sat down next to her primly. 

"Who said we were going to do nothing?"

******

The two guards were passing by on their normal rounds when one noticed something strange about Ruri's cell.

"Hey!" he cried, peering in the small window. "The fairy's _glowing_!"

"What?" his companion shouted. "What's she doing?"

The first one shrugged and struggled with his keys. When they got the door open it was clear that Ruri was, indeed, glowing.

"Crap!" the second guard cursed. "She's hooked up to that damn computer of hers!"

At that moment, Ruri opened her eyes. The door to her cell slammed shut, locking the guards in as well. 

"Please don't move." she said tonelessly, staring off into space. The guards smirked, raising their guns, and stepped forward. The walls suddenly became magnetized, ripping the weapons from their hands and plastering the guards themselves to the walls by their metal shoulder pads, armored plating, and belts. Down the entire hallway, the sound of locks undoing themselves echoed like death tolls in their ears. Windows began to pop up, slowly at first but gaining speed until there were hundreds of them in Ruri's cell alone.

_Scatter_, each window read in bold letters.

******

The strange thing about being a member of a crew is that the crew members learn to communicate with minimal words. No one had to question what the single-word order meant. When the doors began to open, everyone took a different way out. The final destination for all of them, though, was Tokyo. Nergal protocol required them to return to headquarters in case of an abandon ship.

The escape pods were three levels above the brig-- Harry suspected that Ruri had somehow managed to secure the area from the Successors, so the only problem would be how to get there. Most knew the ship well enough to find back ways through piping and things, and those who didn't were guided by those who did. 

But Harry didn't leave. He had noticed that Ruri's door remained locked and shut tightly, but there were still people inside. Upon closer examination, Harry realized that Ruri had no intention of leaving with the crew. A memory of the pain on the admiral's face surfaced unbidden, and filled him with a sense of terror. There was no way he was going to sit around and let that sort of thing happen again, especially not to the Captain. Reaching out a hand, he began to tap at the lock mechanism, the IFS on his hand linking up to the computer.

_Omoikane, let me in._ he ordered.

_Request denied. _Came the answer. _Access blocked_.

_We'll see about that_. Harry retorted, opening the panel and plunging both hands inside. Hacking was _his_ specialty, not the captain's.

******

Ines decided that if she spent another three minutes locked up she would lose her mind. Luckily, Shizuka's second in command, Nina, showed up to begin the gloating.

"Right this way, miss!" she chirped, and Ines decided that her smiles were as sugary as her food. It was disgusting. "Miss Misumaru is awake, and as soon as Mr. Yamasaki gets down from the bridge, we're going to jump to the rendezvous point."

"Mind if I ask what you want with the Artifact?" Ines questioned. Nina shook her head, her dark curly hair whipping across her face.

"That would take all the fun out of it, wouldn't it now?" she said quite cheerfully. "You'll just have to see what happens when we get there. Oh, and I wouldn't try anything funny." Still smiling, she held up a small revolver. "I used to be a cop-- my aim is top-notch."

"How wonderful for you." Ines replied in tones of boredom. They entered the wire-strewn medical area. "What do you want with us?"

"Ines?" Yurika asked immediately at the sound of her voice. Ines was surprised. She had known that many scientists did heartless things, but Yurika was hyperventilating again and the three men who were standing by with various elements of jumping equipment couldn't seem to care less.

"I'm here." Ines moved to stand next to the operating table. Yurika turned her head as much as she could in the restraints.

"Where am I?" she asked, eyes darting about the room in near panic. "I've been here before-- Ines, I don't want to be here again! Where's the ship?"

"We're on the ship." Ines said soothingly.

"I don't want to be here!" Yurika protested again. "Please let me out!" Her face began to shine with white lines. 

"You're going to upset her and then there's no telling what will happen!" Ines snapped at the four Successors, pushing her way to Yurika's side. "Yurika, _calm down_." she ordered, shaking the other woman, but to no avail.

"Get her a hypo!" Nina ordered, shoving one of the doctors. ""Now!"

"We can't sedate her or..." one of the remaining two began timidly.

"If she damages the equipment then we're all in hot water." Nina replied harshly. "Where the hell is Yoshio?"

******

Yoshio was, at the moment, running down the stairs. Apparently, the elevators had been shut off-- he didn't have time to wonder why.

******

Ruri didn't look the least bit surprised when Harry burst into the room.

"Captain...!" he began, but she cut him off.

"Don't move please, Harry-kun."

"What?" Then he noticed the guards, struggling to pry themselves away from the wall. He wondered briefly if it had been Omoikane's idea to magnetize a strip across the center of the room, but that wasn't the matter at hand. "Let's go, Captain." he said.

"I'm not leaving." Ruri said simply. "I'm going to keep the ship from reaching Osaka."

Harry stared at her open-mouthed for a second. "That's not wise."

"Nevertheless," Ruri answered over renewed shouting from the guards, "I will stay."

"You can't." Harry said stubbornly. Ruri still didn't move. They stared at each other for a moment, Harry fuming, Ruri indifferent. Then Harry tore the gun away from his hip and tossed it to his left, where it promptly attached itself to the magnetized wall. The guards were shouting expletives and other things that didn't matter since no one was paying attention to them anyway. Harry hesitated for a moment, touching the plates at his shoulders. Ruri continued to observe him, unresponsive. Harry grit his teeth in irritation with her, then stripped off his shirt and stepped through the magnetic field unhindered.

"Let's go." he said, and his tone did not imply a request. Ruri's eyes widened as he took her elbow and tugged her to her feet. She was too surprised to resist when, wrapping both arms around her waist, he yanked her back through the field and out the cell door, the force of his pull sending them tumbling to the ground.

"Harry-kun..." she said finally as they both stood.

"Look, they have Ines-san and the admiral, don't they?" Harry asked shortly. "Even if you blew the Nadesico C to smithereens, they could find another ship to jump them to Osaka. There's no point in staying here to get yourself killed or worse."

Ruri just stared at him. Harry opened his mouth to say something else, then shook his head. A sudden shout from down the passage alerted them to the fact that the escape had been discovered. The guards coming to relieve the ones who were still stuck to the walls had spread the alarm, and men in red and beige uniforms were coming down the hallway at top speed. Harry knew if they waited any longer they would both be caught. Reaching out, he took Ruri's hand and dragged her at a run down the corridor.

Ruri, who had been hit with the realization that Harry was right, was busy coming up with something new. Rough plans were forming in her mind, and she was grateful that Harry was leading or else she wouldn't have those precious seconds to figure out a plan of action. She looked up to tell him her idea when it suddenly occurred to her that he was taller than she was. And stronger, too, if the tense muscles in his back were any indication. Saburota must have made good on his periodical threats to subject Harry to a Jovian fitness program. The hand that gripped hers now was much stronger than it had been when he had first shook her hand during the christening of the Nadesico B.

She realized that her mind was wandering in directions she wasn't comfortable with it going and snapped back to attention, ignoring the heat that rose to her face. Right now, escape, and a rendezvous with the crew in Tokyo. After that...

_After that what?_ the nasty little voice in the back of her mind asked her.

_Baka._ Ruri thought back to it, as she and Harry reached the maintenance tunnels that wove in an intricate pattern throughout the bulwarks of the ship. Here Harry let Ruri take over, since it was her ship and she knew every bit of it in her sleep. Ruri decided that she was much more comfortable in the front, where she couldn't see him.

******

"What's going on?" Yoshio demanded breathlessly, rushing into the room with his lab coat flapping behind him.

"She's flipping out!" one of the scientists exclaimed as another brushed past him with a syringe in hand.

"What the hell took you so long?" Nina yelled, but before Yoshio could answer, a window popped up and Shizuka's furious, mottled face appeared. 

"Get them out of here now!" he ordered, his voice so angry and his presence so unnerving that everyone knew at once that something had gone horribly wrong.

Ines didn't care about that, however. All she cared about were the windows popping up behind Shizuka, on the bridge. Signs with bright, bold lettering. 

_Scatter._

That was all she needed to see. Whirling back to Yurika, she grabbed the medic's wrist before he could give Yurika the shot. Pressing her thumb to the bones in his palm in a technique she hadn't been forced to use since med. school, she forced him to let go of the needle, and promptly gave the shot to him, instead. The sound of the man's body crumpling to the floor caught Nina's attention, and she turned on Ines with gun in hand.

Ines was busy leaning over Yurika, trying to envision things to calm her down. "Get us out of here now, Captain." she said, falling back into the old habit of referring to Yurika as the captain of the Nadesico.

Yurika took a deep breath, ceased shining momentarily, then started again as she and Ines were bathed in a white-gold glow. At that exact moment Nina pulled the trigger, and smoke mingled with the white light. When the spots in everyone's eyes faded, the only sign of Yurika or Ines were the droplets of blood on the floor.


	4. More Trouble Than It's Worth

Author's note: Due to a rather loose fansub translation, I made a mistake about Seelie's name. It's really Itsuki or something like that from what I can tell listening to the raw version. But I think I'll keep calling her Seelie just because she sort of_ act_s like a Seelie and the only Itsuki I've ever known was a boy. ^_^ 

Disclaimer: MBN does not belong to me.  None of the characters belong to me either. They should, but for some reason the current owner refuses to give them up. Go figure…

PART THREE: More Trouble Than it's Worth

**"A tribute to Xellos."**

"Faster!" Ryoko ordered impatiently. Saburota, in a contrary mood, stopped dead in the middle of the tunnel, turning to face the others with a wicked smirk.

"So you like things fast, huh, Ryoko?"

Ryoko shrieked her rage while Izumi and Hikaru smothered their giggles. Saburota smiled charmingly and continued on his way. "Don't worry so much, Chief-- we're here."

With that, he disappeared. Ryoko rolled her eyes. "He _always_ has to put on a show, doesn't he?" she asked, peering down over the hole the Jovian had jumped through. Ryoko slid her feet through and eased her way out of the air ducts back into the corridors of the Nadesico, ignoring the outstretched hand Saburota proffered. Saburota ignored her in return and helped Hikaru and then Izumi down from the shaft. Then he started off again, leaving the others to follow.

"Hey, genius." Ryoko snapped. When he turned, she was red with irritation. "Why are we _here?_" She jerked her hand in the opposite direction. "The escape pods are _that_ way and five levels down!"

"I know," Saburota replied, undisturbed. "I'm going to get my Aestivallis."

"Yeah!"

"Wha..." Ryoko spluttered as first Hikaru and then Izumi danced over to join Saburota. "But that's crazy!"

"I thought you said you hated doing nothing?" Saburota taunted her. "And in an escape pod you'll be doing exactly that for a very, _very_ long time."

"Well I... you... we... I hate you!" she exclaimed, brushing past them and on down the hall. Hikaru and Izumi exchanged looks.

"Hatred is the way to Ryoko's heart!" Hikaru chirped, grabbing Saburota's hand and pulling him after Ryoko.

"Hated hearts..." Izumi began. "Happy hints...Ha ha ha, Hikaru."

Hikaru felt like she had regressed to Sesame Street for a moment, but shook off the feeling and tried to focus on the matter at hand. The hangar would be pretty much free of Successors due to the unsightly hole that was only marginally patched in the side. No one could possibly want to risk being there if it broke. And Hikaru was pretty sure they could get there before Shizuka discovered what was going on. But only if Saburota would move a little _faster_! she thought, tugging at the Jovian's sleeve.

******

Nagare Akatsuki slowed his pace even more, drinking in every detail of the hallways and rooms. "Ah, the memories..." he stated, though he didn't sound very sincere. "When will she be ready for launch?"

"Oh, she's ready now." Jun said absently, also lost in thought. "We just need to find a complete crew."

"Eri has agreed to work communications." Akatsuki commented. "And Mikako will be taking the helm-- she scored surprisingly well on the simulations. And I'll be here, of course."

Jun didn't answer. If only...

"Sir!" a young officer's window popped up directly in front of them. "There's been an unusual energy flux in the ship-- we think it's a boson jump!"

A sharp cry echoed throughout the corridor. Akatsuki's eyes narrowed. "Come on." he ordered Jun, and turned back towards the origin of the yell.

******

Yurika was shaking badly when she finished her jump, but at least she was away from that _horrible_ place. 

"Observation deck." Ines commented, overwhelmed with a sense of deja-vu. "Interesting." she snorted, the action causing a sudden fit of coughing. Yurika tried to catch her as she collapsed, but only managed to fall over with her. 

"Ines, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly, when she suddenly realized that her hand was getting wet. Under closer scrutiny, she found that red liquid was staining Ines's lab coat and her own gloves. "Blood...?" Her eyes widened in shock-- she quickly covered the wound with both hands to try to stop the bleeding. "Ines!" Other than that, she didn't know what to do. She couldn't leave to get help, she couldn't do anything to help the doctor besides stop the blood flow (that was all she could do by herself.) And it wasn't as if she had a free hand to work with, either. She didn't know _how_ long she would have been sitting there if her jump hadn't been detected.

******

"What do you _mean_ they've all escaped?_"_

Shizuka quailed at Aritomo's furious tone. The larger-than-life quality adopted by the full screen main window only made the commander's anger more frightening.

"Sir, I..." Shizuka stuttered brokenly.

"Sir, we underestimated the crew's ingenuity. As soon as we breach the firewall, we'll pursue and destroy the escape pods." Nina broke in with a soothing voice, shooting Shizuka a look of thin condescension. Aritomo refused to be calmed.

"I don't care about the _crew._" he snapped. "Someone explain to me how the A-class jumpers managed to boson jump from under a bionet that should have blocked all activity of the kind."

"That's Yamasaki's department, sir." Shizuka stepped aside to let Yoshio take full responsibility for miscalculating. Yoshio, however, was not about to go down unless he took everyone else responsible down with him.

"The nearest I can figure, sir, is that Ms. Misumaru had some sort of transportation device directly on her person, which would have nullified the effects of the bionet." Yoshio explained as eloquently as he could. Shizuka could look like a fool if he so chose, but Yoshio did not enjoy being viewed as an idiot. "Had I been allowed to oversee the entire operation, I would undoubtedly have discovered this and taken precautionary measures. However, I was called to the bridge to try and break through the firewall. The A-class jumpers escaped in my absence."

Aritomo's scowl carved itself deeper into his face.. "What exactly is this thing that Ms. Misumaru used to escape?" 

"A device of some sort-- impossible to tell, sir." Yoshio shrugged. "We don't have access to Nergal's classified files, so we don't know what they've discovered how to do. It could be anything from an implant to a piece of jewelry. All someone of her caliber needs is a tiny bit of TC, and the possibilities for jumps are practically endless."

"And both of them had this implant or whatever?"

"No, sir, I believe only the admiral had it." Nina interrupted. "The doctor waited until she had physical contact with Ms. Misumaru before jumping, and got shot in the meantime." Here the small woman developed a smug expression suspiciously reminiscent of a cat that has just scratched up all the curtains. "She would not have risked that if she had been able to jump herself."

"Next time we'll take care of the problem immediately, sir." Shizuka assured Aritomo, who was finally beginning to regain some of his normal color. The commander rested his head in both hands and ran his fingers through his hair.

"You let one jumper escape and killed the other one. At least tell me you managed to override that pesky firewall." he muttered tonelessly.

The three on the bridge shifted uneasily and remained silent. Aritomo started to grow red again, and all prepared themselves for another outburst. But at that exact moment, a young yeoman shouted excitedly from the corner of the room, "I've got it! We're in!" He stood up, still typing frantically. "Just a quick reboot and the whole system is ours..."

Aritomo's window vanished in a momentary blackout.

"Oops," the yeoman said sheepishly.

Shizuka immediately promoted the man to lieutenant and the rest of the crew went gleefully about trying to take over the rest of the system. 

******

Omoikane, overpowered and uncertain, wrapped its consciousness into a personal file and went into an extended hibernation in an attempt to preserve itself. It did remember to scramble the coordinates of the escape pods before retreating into the background, though.

******

Jun found himself getting more and more suspicious as Yurika tried to explain what had happened to the Nadesico C. Her limited knowledge indicated that she had not been on the bridge during several crucial moments; all she knew for certain was that an unidentified fleet had attacked them. After that she had launched the Aestivallis and jumped to save the engineers and hadn't gone back to bridge at all-- she also didn't seem to understand what Jun meant when he asked how she knew the ship was being boarded before the actual jump.

"There was a jump coming through-- a strange Aestivallis." was her only comment on the matter. Jun could only figure that it had something to do with being an A-class jumper. 

It wasn't Yurika he was suspicious of. It was Akastuki. How he had suddenly decided that renovations of the Nadesico A needed to be completed immediately, how he had rounded up a rag-tag crew made up of several of the original crewmembers who weren't currently on the Nadesico C... How his Aestivallis had gotten sudden upgrades and they'd hired that new girl, Mayumi...

"You knew." he accused the president of Nergal when Ines had been secured and stabilized and after Yurika had finally fallen asleep in the sick bay.

"Of course I did." Akatsuki said, giving Jun a look that clearly insinuated that that fact should be obvious. "Since yesterday when the Martian Successors informed me that they had captured the Nadesico, the A-class jumpers and the Artifact. Pretty good work for under 36 hours, isn't it?"

Jun wished he wouldn't be so calculated all the time, but kept his disgust to himself.

"Because, of course, after we finished the renovations on this ship, Nergal still has the most advanced battleship. " Now he was practically purring. Jun bit his lip. "And I've received word that the escape pods are all away. Quite an escape Miss Hoshino managed to pull. Of course, I knew Shizuka was incompetent anyway-- that's why I stationed him under Seiya."

"Well, it was lucky that Yurika managed to get herself and Ines away." he commented ostensibly.

"Not luck." Akatsuki's smile broadened. "In her state, the observation deck of the original Nadesico would be the only logical place for her to go. It reserves a major place in her memories."

_You've just got us all figured out, don't you, Nagare?_ Jun thought sharply. _Someday someone will figure _you_ out, and you won't like it one bit._

"And how did we manage to get the Artifact out from under their noses?" he asked aloud.

"Oh, they've still got the Artifact." Akatsuki replied quite cheerfully. "There's only so much I can do in one day."

******

"_Aquamarine!!"_ the man on the video screen yelled. Lapis observed the show quietly from the doorway, watched Akito with his knees pulled up under his chin for a moment, and then took a hesitant step forward.

Akito picked up the remote and rewound the tape. 

"_Aquamarine!!"_

Lapis took another step. Akito rewound again. Lapis gave up this game and sat down at a safe distance. He hated it when she touched him.

"What is this?" she asked.

"A show."

The memory popped up in her mind. "Gekigangar? I haven't seen you watching it before."

"I haven't watched it since before you were born." he answered shortly, and rewound the tape again.

Lapis wanted to ask why he watched the same woman die over and over again, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she already knew.

"This Ken-- you identify with him?" she asked quietly. Akito didn't answer. They sat in silence a little longer. Akito hit a button and the scene changed.

"_Joe!!"_

"He screams more than you do." Lapis commented, trying to lighten the situation. Akito turned the video off abruptly, his body language clearly telling her to get out. 

She had never had much of a sense of humor.

She set about preparing to jump the Eucharis. It was hard to do, considering Akito refused to tell her when they were going or where. She would have taken a nap, but his nightmares prevented her from trying to rest until lack of sleep began affecting her health. So she busied herself studying Nergal files about the Artifact and reading the Nadesico's flight logs. She felt like these people were family, she knew them so well. But she didn't _know_ them at all, and they barely knew her name. 

Wondering what having a real family would be like, she settled into her own private hell and let Akito deal with his alone.

******

"There!" Nina shouted, pointing. The small, white escape pods, all making a beeline for Earth. "Let's shoot them down."

"I don't think that's such a good idea." A blond man appeared in a window directly in the center of the main screen. "A psi knife can cut straight through this ship's barriers and into the hull almost instantaneously. Oh, and since you locked down the exits, we had to repunch a hole in the hangar. Sorry."

"So you might want to see about fixing that first!" a cheerful brunette popped up next to the blond.

"Would you two shut up and get moving?" A third face snapped.

"She wants to move faster..." the first one commented as all three windows disappeared.

"Just shoot me now." Shizuka sighed, face in hands.

"If you insist..." Nina began.

"IT'S A FIGURE OF SPEECH!!"

Nina knew Shizuka was an idiot when it came to, oh, say, taking over a battleship, but _she_ was no fool, and she knew better than to mess with him in that sort of mood.

******

"Shut up!" Ryoko shouted as they cut their connection with the Nadesico.

"Ryoko's never had a guy try to pick her up before." Hikaru confided to Saburota-- on an open line.

"He can take his pick up lines and stick them up his..."

"Pick up sticks!" Izumi yelled, repelling a sudden burst of laser fire from the Nadesico.

"Do you think they'll use the beam cannon?" Hikaru asked, moving to cover the last of the escape pods.

"Nope," Saburota assured her. "'Cause then we'd have to go back and beat them up."

"To bad none of _us_ really has a psi knife." Ryoko retorted cuttingly. "Tenkawa's model was the only one."

"Only the bluff counts in chess and poker." Saburota replied, completely at ease. "If they tried to use the beam cannon, they'd be assuming that we'd let it hit us to prevent losing any of the pods. They may be idiots, but they know that it only takes one to be a shield."

"I vote for you." Ryoko muttered.

"I'm touched by your confidence in me."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know."

After that, the lines were dead for a while.

******

**"Captain?" Mayumi asked. "Um... this waiting is causing some major stress in the engines."**

**"What's she doing?" Eri asked, swiveling to stare.**

**"Shh!" Erina warned everyone. "She's sensing the jump."**

**"But there's nothing to sense! The chulip is there, the portal is ready, all systems are go..."**

**Yurika remained oblivious to the chatter going on around her. It would take a while... she hoped her hunch wasn't incorrect or things could get very unpleasant for the crew.**

**She thought about the new additions to her fleet. Were those lost ships doomed to travel back and forth in this circle endlessly? What kind of afterlife was that? **

**Some of us can't accept the loss.**** Seelie had told her. After all, we're as real as you are. But we don't belong here any more.**

**Yurika shivered. Just who had built that Artifact, and whose big idea was it to put in such strange loopholes?**

**A slight ripple touched the air around her ears. Her eyes snapped open. "Prepare for jump."**

******

Jun stared at the master key. The rest of the crew had assembled on the bridge-- the only people missing were Akatsuki and the captain. He wondered who would be turning that key; he'd never imagined anyone but Yurika commanding this ship.

"Come on, Mr. Aoi!" a bright voice chirped. "Life can't be so bad!"

Jun sighed. "Sure it can."

Mikako's smile deepened. "Come by the kitchen later and we'll make you the house special."

"Beef curry but light on the spices!" Eri added. "Just the way you like it."

Jun managed a grin. "Sounds good."

"Will you share it with an old friend?" a voice asked from behind him. Jun whirled around in shock.

"Y-Yurika?" he asked. "What are you... shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Oh, don't be silly!" she laughed, and for a moment everyone could convince themselves that things were back to the way they should have been. "It's my ship. Who else but me would run it?"

"Are we ready for launch, _Captain?_" Akatsuki asked, stepping out from behind Yurika.

"All set!" she smiled brilliantly.

"Everyone please return to your stations!" Erina shouted, her voice still cutting in spite of her recent revival. Yurika's fingers rested on the master key for a moment before she turned it, savoring the hum of power as all the systems came on line.

"Hello, Omoikane." she said hesitantly.

_Hello, Captain._ the computer returned. Yurika glanced up, looking at each of her crew members as they watched her in return. Then the silence was broken by the captain's infectious laughter.

"Well, let's go!" she said. "Mikako, let's jump!"

"Coordinates laid in, Captain!" Mikako replied. "Six minutes estimated travel time."

******

**"Captain," Eri said, "General Azuma is hailing us. He says if we're not going to jump then to get the hell out of his way."**

**"A little longer..." Yurika said, almost to herself. "Get in position."**

******

"You're cleared for jump, Nadesico." the attendant in the tower informed them.

"Thank you!" Eri said happily. "Captain, the fleet reports they are standing by to follow us."

"How many?" Yurika asked Akatsuki.

"About thirty-five-- all we could scrounge up on short notice."

"It'll more than do." Yurika said. "Countdown to jump time."

"Fifty seconds and counting." Mayumi reported, her IFS linking up to Omoikane. She wasn't as fast a Ruri, but Jun had a hunch it was partly because Omoikane was a little bitter.

******

**"Now!" Yurika ordered, and the Nadesico entered the chulip's field. **

******

Yurika blinked twice as the ship shuddered underneath her. This wasn't a normal jump.

******

**"Jump successful." Mayumi said, slightly breathless.**

**Yurika smiled. "We should be just in time to take ****Osaka**** back from the Successors."**

**"There's no way-- they'll be long gone with the Artifact by now!" Erina protested.**

**"No, the Nadesico C hasn't been here yet." Yurika corrected. "Perhaps I should explain in Ines's absence?"**

**"No need." the doctor entered the bridge. "I've figured it out myself."**

******

"Jump successful." Mayumi said, slightly breathless. "We've reached Serandala safely."

"Wonderful." Akatsuki broke in. "Now let's find the Nadesico C and blow it out of the sky."

"Um, Captain?" Mayumi interrupted suddenly. "You're not going to believe this, but the fleet has sort of tripled in size."

"And you'll never believe who's trying to page us!" Eri cried.

******

"What do you _mean_ they've already left?" was the first noise to reach Ruri as she woke up.

"It was imperative that they leave immediately-- we simply couldn't wait to see if you all showed up." General Misumaru's booming voice sliced through her head.

"It's not fair!" Harry continued. "The captain should be there! It's her ship!"

"On the contrary, my boy, it's my daughter's ship to run as she pleases."

"Ship?" Ruri asked, sitting up. Instantly, Harry was at her side. She was pleased to note that he had found a shirt to wear.

"Captain, the admiral and everyone went chasing the Successors without us!" he complained, looking to her for vindication.

"You understand, don't you, dear?" General Misumaru pleaded, taking her hand. "There just wasn't time, and it was so important to us that Yurika be given her old command... what's wrong?"

Ruri's eyes went wide and blank. "The Nadesico...A?" she asked, careful not to choke on the words.

"Yes, of course." Koichiro blinked. 

Ruri and the general stared at each other for a moment, while Harry stood by getting more and more pissed off because he knew nothing and he didn't like knowing nothing. Then Ruri swung her legs over the side of her capsule and took off down the corridor at a run.

"Captain!" Harry called after her. "Cap-- oh, forget it." She could hear his footsteps echoing hers down the hall, but didn't check her stride. If she hurried, she'd be just in time to catch the fleet when they arrived in Osaka. And Akito... A tentative smiled brushed her face. He would show up sooner or later, no doubt.

******

Akito was, at the moment, preparing to make an appearance. He couldn't help but smile a bit-- and he had tried very hard not to let Lapis see it, but she sensed the change in his mood.

It wasn't fair, of course, and he knew he was being malicious, but he loathed Lapis. And loved her. He couldn't help but love her for being so patient. So damned patient that he wanted to scream.

_Stop it_, he told himself. _You're becoming schizophrenic._

She glanced at him expectantly every time he came into the room, but he didn't tell her what he was planning. She already knew, having access to most of his memories, but it hurt her that he wouldn't explain. It made him feel better and made him hate himself for being so cruel. Was it really even possible to become schizophrenic if you were split into two people? 

*******

**"S-Seelie!" Yurika exclaimed, after a period of stunned silence. "But I thought you were... I mean, why aren't you..."**

**"It's a strange loophole." Seelie replied, smiling slightly. "I didn't die during that jump-- no one who went missing during the Jovian War actually died. The Artifact sort of just collected us. And your jump triggered something that brought us out of that void for a time. So we've decided to help you."**

**"What was so special about this jump?" she asked.**

**"Sore wa himitsu desu." Seelie answered. "It's a secret. Can't tell you."**

**They continued in that line of questioning for a few more minutes, until Yurika realized that Seelie wasn't going to let anything slip. It was as if she already knew everything that Yurika was going to ask. The blue-haired captain sighed.**

**"Should we hold our position?" Mikako asked cautiously.**

**"No, stay on course." Yurika sighed again and shook her head, putting on a smile. "All right, Seelie, let's go look for the Successors."**

**"We'll find them. I'm sending you their coordinates now."**

**Realization dawned on the bridge. "Seelie, just how many times have you done this?"**

**Seelie grinned, but her eyes were sad. "It's a secret." And then her window disappeared.**

******

Ruri entered the air station docking bay with Harry quickly recounting the events of the day beside her and discovered that many of the others had reached the same conclusion that she had. Nergal and UE employees and officers were milling around nervously, waiting for the Nadesico B to be ready for lift off. Harry skidded to a stop next to her, looking around in annoyance.

"Everyone figured it out but me, huh?"

"You weren't on the original Nadesico, so don't beat yourself up over something you can't help. It's stupid." Ruri answered, scanning the crowd for her crew. She spotted Yukina and Minato deep in conversation near the vending machines. Harry, following her gaze, misinterpreted her intentions.

"I'll go get us something to drink." he muttered sullenly before scampering off. Ruri let him go, continuing her search. When she finally located Megumi and Prospector, she was satisfied that every one of the escape pods that had left had made it to Earth. She made a mental note to write a commendation for the Aestivallis pilots later for outstanding performance. Even if Shizuka had been an idiot, getting everyone to Earth safely had been a feat. It seemed the only hang-up was Ines getting shot, but she was obviously well enough to lift off with the Nadesico. In truth, she was surprised. Even against Shizuka, it shouldn't have been that easy. But then again, the Nadesico's Aesti pilots were famous for random brilliance.

A quick search placed Izumi near the plaza fountain. She seemed to be composing a song in honor of the Nadesico's...what, second christening? Hikaru was seated at her feet, taking frantic notes of the occasion for her next doujinshi. Ryoko... she thought she saw a glimpse of Ryoko's outfit near the cafe, and, seeing Harry paying for two cups of coffee, made her way through the crowd to the secluded spot. Yes, Ryoko was there, buying a bagel or something.

Ruri waited until Harry got out of the line before waving to him and sitting at the nearest open table. Then she focused out, skimming the crowd looking for a shock of blond hair. Where _was_ Saburota, anyway?

_"BOO!"_

"AHHH!"

*Splash*

"Oops, sorry Harry. I thought you were Ryoko."

"You did not!"

"So you were trying to scare _me?"_

"I don't waste my time with any other Ryokos. Ow."

Well, that answered _that_ question. Ruri sighed. "Bakabaka." she muttered.

When the voice over the intercom finally announced that the Nadesico B had been refueled and was now ready to begin boarding, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Except for Harry, that is, who was strangely reminded of an airport terminal.

******

**"There it is, Captain, exactly where Seelie said it would be."**

**"All right." Yurika took a breath. "Ruri will never forgive me for this..."**

**"This is no time to be sentimental." Erina snapped. Yurika shot her a blank look.**

**"All right, let's attack-- but try to disable it, if you can. We don't want any unnecessary deaths if some of our crewmen are still on board. Akatsuki-san, please go prepare to launch." **

**"Of course." Akatsuki gave a brilliantly devious smile and left the bridge. Jun followed, with considerable more reluctance.**

**"Jun," Yurika said quietly, "You don't have to go-- I know you hate piloting..."**

**"I should do something to make myself useful." he muttered sullenly.**

**"Jun..."**

**He glanced back and almost said something else, but of course he would never say _that_ and besides, he wasn't sure what he felt about her anymore. It had been a long time since his first flight in a Delphinium, and a lot had changed since then.**

**"Jun, good luck, then, okay? And thank you." She flashed him a hundred-watt grin and Jun left before he succeeded in confusing himself any worse.**

**"They're bringing up the distortion field." Mayumi reported, the animation in her voice a stark contrast to Ruri's calm appraisal of every situation.**

**"Right." Yurika acknowledged. "This is a straightforward fight. There isn't much strategy involved. Eri, tell those ships with the stronger lasers to try and wear down the distortion field. Mikako, bring us up over the top and out of their line of fire. Charging beam cannon..."**

******

**_Nadesico B has cleared the launch area**_

The announcement was heralded with less good wishes than it should have had. No one was sure what was going on-- except Ruri, who had puzzled it out for herself. Other than her, the most informed people were the members of the crew who had been on the bridge before the Successors took over.

Minato was one of those people, but all she could tell an impatient Yukina was that it had something to do with time travel.

"Time travel isn't possible." Yukina had retorted hotly.

"Yes it is." Megumi contradicted her. "Akito went two weeks into the past on a jump."

"But he couldn't _do_ anything." Yukina said. "How could the Nadesico A launch today, go to the past, attack the Nadesico C yesterday _before_ the Successors took over in the first place, and then get back _here_ to meet the same Nadesico C in Osaka?"

"I don't know." Minato sighed, and without Ines to try to explain, everyone was lost.


	5. Broken Reunions

Disclaimer: Um…. The usual. Do I have to put these on every chapter?

PART FOUR:  Broken Reunions

******

Akito made it a point never to use chulips to travel. It was a risky business, and pretty much everything that could go wrong while using one had happened to him. But with Lapis's doctored genes and Akito's nano-capabilities, the Eucharis was relatively easy to jump using TCs. And even without the TC's, Akito was confident he could make a jump safely. 

Lapis was pointedly not speaking to him when he entered the bridge and sat down in his chair. He took a moment to note that this was the first time she had ever had enough independent feeling of her own that it actually occurred to her to be angry. That fact checked his attitude. When someone is angry with you, they seem more like a person and less like a machine.

"We're going home." he said. Apologies weren't necessary, because she already knew how he felt. He hesitated, but continued after a pause, "You'll finally get to meet them."

"Meet who?" she asked coldly. Akito frowned. 

"You don't actually think I don't know how obsessed you are with them?"

"If I am, it's because _you_ are obsessed with them."

"Maybe I am."

Lapis sighed and her anger subsided. At least he was confiding in her again. Confiding everything except that one dark corner of his mind; the one so carefully covered that even her gentle probing couldn't get to it. That was were he kept his most treasured memories, and something else that she hadn't been able to identify. It hurt her that he had no problem letting her see all his nightmares and traumas, but wouldn't give her the pleasure of simple memories like birthdays and childhood moments and the antics of his dearest friends. She supposed he thought it was none of her business. She didn't think he would do something like that on purpose, so she forgave him, but the lack of happiness in her past made her irritated with him, all the same.

******

**"Everything's going fine, Captain." Mayumi reported. "Energy output is normal--beam cannon will be stabilized in thirty seconds...twenty five seconds..."**

**"Just tell us if something goes wrong." Erina snapped. Mayumi blushed.**

**"Um, incoming Aestivallis. Three of them."**

**"They stole _our_ pilots' Aestis!" Mikako said indignantly. "How rude!"**

**"What did you _think_ they were going to do with them?" Erina began.**

**"Stay focused, everyone." Yurika commented, ending the situation smoothly. Then her eyes widened and she gasped.**

**"What was that?" she breathed, putting her hands to her ears in an effort to ward off the ripples in the air by her head.**

**"Captain!" Jun's face appeared. "Akatsuki...just...boson jumped...." he sounded slightly dazed.**

**"Complete success, Erina." Akatsuki's voice crackled through a static strewn window. "You're to be commended if everything else works as well."**

**Erina looked as if she had just been granted the Nobel Prize. And in her own mind, perhaps she already had.**

**"You screwed with Akatsuki's genes?" Eri asked in amazement. "He let you do that?"**

**"It's only temporary." Erina said smugly, but her eyes were shining. "The nanomachines are programmed to die off in his bloodstream and his DNA will return to normal. If I'm right, that is, but I have been so far. I'll have made the first non-Martian jump possible." Yes, she was definitely after the Nobel Prize. Yurika decided not to tell the elated woman that forcing a jump like that was going to take more out of the jumper than it was worth. Akatsuki would find his reflexes seriously lacking should he be pressed into a battle. But there was something more urgent than that tugging at her thoughts.**

**"Where is he now?" she asked, eyebrows drawing together suspiciously. **

**"Currently, in between the Nadesico C and the Nadesico's distortion field." Mayumi reported. "He punched a hole straight through the hangar and has been continuing to damage other non-essential systems for the past two minutes."**

**"Why didn't you say anything?" Erina snapped.**

**"You told me only to report when something went wrong."**

**Mikako had to smother her giggles when she saw Erina's exasperated face. **

**"Um, Captain?" Jun asked suddenly. "I thought there weren't any A-class jumpers on the C."**

**"There aren't!" Erina turned the brunt of her annoyance towards him.**

**"The Nadesico C is preparing to boson jump." Mayumi said. "I take it that constitutes 'something wrong?'"**

**"Just forget what I said!" Erina shouted, but Yurika overpowered her.**

**"Akatsuki, get out of there now!" she ordered.**

**"Already gone." Akatsuki's window vanished, as did Jun's.**

**"Everyone please be quiet." Yurika addressed the crew on the bridge. "I'm going to track the jump."**

**"Can she do that?" Eri whispered to Mikako, who shrugged.**

**"Guess so."**

**After that, a tense silence settled in the room. Glowing lines appeared, framing Yurika's face, and she shut her eyes in complete concentration. Through the main window, the crew could see the Nadesico C being bathed in white light, and then... **

**"Akito?!" Yurika's eyes snapped open and her face stopped shining abruptly. The Nadesico C disappeared, and everyone could tell that Yurika hadn't succeeded in tracking it.**

**"Eri, call Akito _now_." she said shortly, brows knit in deep thought.**

**"He's not answering-- all I'm getting is static." Eri replied apologetically.**

**"Keep trying."**

******

"Hi, everyone!" Yurika's brilliantly smiling face greeted the members of the Nadesico B. "I'm glad you made it in time!"

"In time?" Ruri glanced at her sensors, which were picking up nothing. "In time for what?"

"The show, of course!" The window changed views to a screen that looked like it had been colored by a preschooler.

******

(Yes, here it is again.)

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

***Pop!***

**Yurika:**Welcome to the second "How and Why of Nadesico!" Two in one fanfic! Wow! The author must be having a tough time explaining things!

**Ines:**Understandable, considering that time travel is involved.

**Yurika:** Well, now it's our turn-- so sit back and we'll tell you what's going on! Where should we start?

**Ines:** We'll start with the Artifact.

**Yurika:** Everything seems to start with the Artifact.

**Ines:** In this show, anyway. The Artifact is still a mystery to us. We don't know exactly what it does or what its purpose is, even though we're learning fast. Well, several things about the Nadesico A's jump were eerie coincidences, and all these little things contributed to a major discovery.

**Yurika (pouting): **You're as bad at this as the author is.

**Ines:** That was just the introduction. Here's the confusing stuff:

Time follows a line, and human beings cannot go backwards or forwards along that line. But to the Artifact, time has no meaning. So by boson jumping it is possible to travel to other times. Usually all boson jumps take place during the present time, but by deciding to move to a different time then the Artifact will oblige the jumper. It doesn't have to be a conscious decision-- simply wishing to move to the past will make it happen. 

**Yurika:** You and I and Akito have all jumped to the past before. But we couldn't do anything then to change what was happening. If the Nadesico went to the past because I wished to be able to stop the Successors from taking over, why were we actually able to attack them?

**Ines**: Because every other time we were all out of place. When Akito jumped two weeks to the past, he could not prevent Seelie's disappearance because the Akito that was _supposed_ to be in that time was still there. For years, scientists have been speculating what would happen if a person was to meet himself. So far, the Artifact has made sure that that paradox has not happened, and it looks like it intends to keep things that way.

**Yurika:** But _why_ was this jump any different?

**Ines:** It is my theory that reality branches endlessly in a tangle of directions. Sometimes _our_ reality crisscrosses with other realities. Usually, since the realities are separated by time, there are no consequences in this intersection. But when Yurika jumped the Nadesico A, trying to get to Serandala, a Yurika in the past was trying to jump _from_ Serandala to Earth. They were trying to jump through the same chulip, to get to opposite sides. The Yurika in the present was wishing to rewind time; the Yurika in the past had figured out she was in the past and was trying to get back to the present. The realities were crossing and because time doesn't matter to the Artifact, each was able to get her wish.

**Everyone collectively: **...

**Ines:** *sigh* When the Nadesicos changed places, they gave an exact exchange of molecules. There was only one Nadesico A in each time still. Each ship was able to act without restriction on their actions, because there was no danger of anyone meeting themselves... 

******

"But what about Seelie and the others?" Eri asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.

"Shh!" Mikako scolded. "I'm still trying to understand the boson jump to the past thing."

"We launched the Nadesico A on Earth today." Akatsuki whispered to them. "When we jumped to Serandala, Yurika accidentally switched _our_ Nadesico with the Nadesico that existed yesterday. Then we accidentally attacked the Nadesico C yesterday _before_ the Successors took over. Yurika figured out what was going on, and we went back to Serandala to send us back to today."

"Oh." the girls gave him a blank look.

******

**Ines**: I'm not finished yet... 

******

"Captain!" Mayumi cried. "Boson particles detected!"

"The Successors?" Erina demanded.

"No," Yurika said, eyes wide. "Akito." 

******

On the Nadesico B, Ruri smiled slightly-- even without all her original crewmembers, Yurika had managed to create a chaotic ship and somehow still have everything under control. Then she caught Harry looking at her, and the smile disappeared.

******

"Mikako..." Yurika began, but her signal was unnecessary. Mikako had already called and Akito's face appeared on the screen.

"I'm coming over." he said without preamble. 

Yurika's eyes narrowed slightly. "Open the hangar."

Mayumi did so with some confusion. The poor woman still had no idea who this Akito was or what his cold attitude was all about. His harsh tone was clearly hurting everyone who heard it, though, and her opinion of the man was not very high.

Akito turned to sign off, but Yurika stopped him. "Bring her with you, Akito." she said quietly. Akito paused.

"I was planning on it." he answered shortly, and he was gone. The people on the bridge looked around at each other, and then they all rose.

"Mayumi, keep an eye on things, please." Yurika smiled at her, but even Mayumi could tell that her mind was elsewhere. It kind of bugged her that no one was telling her what was going on, but she trusted she'd understand when there was more time to explain. Right now, she knew they needed to stop the Nadesico C from reaching Osaka. And since she knew how to scan for ships very well, that is exactly what she did, throwing her irritation aside for the time being.

******

Yurika kept her head down as she walked, her pace slow and deliberate. Her thoughts were flying apart and she didn't know what to do with herself. Everything about him was just so confusing...

"So what would you do if you met _yourself_?" a young yeoman asked her companion as they strolled past her. Yurika frowned. It would have been strange, meeting herself. Wait a minute...

Yurika's head snapped up. Ines was wrong. She _had_ to be wrong because both she _and_ Yurika had been on the Nadesico C when they had gone into the past and attacked it with the _first_ Nadesico. They _weren't_ supposed to be there because the Yurika and the Ines who were supposed to be in the past were _still there_, on the Nadesico C_._ She understood why the attack had taken place, because the ships in her fleet were in no danger of meeting themselves and the ships in limbo weren't at risk either. In fact, no one on her own ship was in danger of meeting themselves except for herself and Ines. There had been a danger of _them_ coming face to face with their past counterparts, and yet the Artifact hadn't done anything to stop it. In fact, Yurika's mind would have clashed with her past self's mind had it not been for...

_Akito!_ her mind screamed at her. Akito had prevented her from tracing the Nadesico C's jump and helped her to figure out she was in the past-- all to prevent her from enacting that paradox of meeting herself. Her pace quickened as a slow smile spread across her face. Somehow, Akito had known what was going on. His coldness hadn't been out of apathy, it was out of necessity! Her anger slipped away, leaving her somewhat giddy as she entered the hangar just in time to see the red Aestivallis glide in. She wondered if happily ever after was going to begin today. And then the strangest thought of all hit her. _Ines was actually wrong!?_ How could she have possibly forgotten a crucial detail? What was there left to believe in anymore?

Ines sighed. "I really wasn't finished yet..."

******

Akito opened the cockpit of his Aestivallis and helped Lapis down before climbing out himself. When his feet were finally settled on the ground, he turned to survey the crowd of people waiting for him, no expression touching his face. Lapis took his hand nervously, and Akito, for once, did not feel the urge to push her away. She was a little girl who was scared and unsure-- she knew so much about these people, but none of them knew her. It would be like meeting a movie star face to face. 

There was a stiff silence. Akito knew everyone was waiting for him to say something, but he didn't have any clue what to say. How could he explain in just a few short sentences what he wasn't at liberty to reveal in the first place? So he took a step forward, pulling Lapis firmly in front of him. "This is Lapis Lazuli."

******

Lapis, eyes wide, tried to move behind him. The awkward silence still stretched across the hangar, so that her name echoed mercilessly across the walls. And then, to her surprise, there was a woman kneeling in front of her.

"Hello, Lapis," she said kindly. "My name's Yurika."

"Hello," Lapis replied, casting a quick look at Akito, who had suddenly tightened his grip on her hand.

Yurika smiled and, taking Lapis's other hand gently in her own, stood up. "You're going to love it here, Lapis."

"Yes, ma'am." Lapis focused her eyes on the floor.

"Hi, Lapis! I'm Mikako!"

"I'm Eri!"

"Sayuri!"

"Junko!"

"Harumi!"

"Pleased to meet you," Lapis said, eyes still on her shoes. She probably should have changed into nicer ones. She still couldn't believe she was actually here--Akito had told her that they would probably never go back, and yet here they were. And the one person that he had dreaded seeing the most was only separated from him by her own small frame. 

Other people were introducing themselves, and Lapis nodded with each one, but her mind was fixed solely on Akito and Yurika, who were having some sort of mental exchange above her. She couldn't sense what Yurika was feeling, but she gave off an air of elation. Akito, on the other hand, was drowning in sadness and an anguish she couldn't even begin to understand. What was his problem? If his dreams were any indication, this moment should have been the happiest of his entire life.

******

_Damn it all._ Akito thought furiously as he glanced at Yurika's smiling face. She probably thought she had him figured out; why he was acting like he was. Maybe she _had_ figured out a part of it. But she was going to get a rude awakening later and he was _not_ looking forward to giving it to her.

He glanced over again, caught her gaze and broke away quickly, ignoring her confused look.

"We'll talk later." he answered her unspoken question, still avoiding her eyes.

******

"Ryoko, where are you going?" Hikaru asked as the former struggled to pull on her IFS suit.

"Tenkawa--back." her voice was muffled as she pulled her shirt over her head. "I'm going to go see him."

"Ryoko, Ruriruri needs you here." Minato said suddenly from behind them. 

"We all want to see him." Megumi added. "But we'll have to wait until we can beat the Successors and take back the Nadesico C before we can have a reunion."

"You can wait." Ryoko snapped, pulling on her helmet. "I'm going."

"Ryoko." Saburota took her helmet and pulled it off her head. "I saw Tenkawa kill Hokushin--he can hold his own in a battle. Nagare and Aoi Jun are already on the Nadesico A. They don't need any more pilots over there. You have a duty to the Captain and to your subordinates to stay here."

Ryoko hissed and snatched her helmet back, but didn't put it on. "I _hate_ doing nothing!" she glared at everyone and stormed out of the hangar, punching a hapless engineer on her way out.

******

Akito destroyed several drones and quite a few Aestivallis to cool the hard rage building in his heart before he answered the call from the Nadesico A. The fact that static was the only thing he saw didn't surprise him too much. A quick signal to Lapis and she hacked into Omoikane, using the Nadesico's own system to establish contact.

"Akito?" Yurika's face, full of hope and disbelief, appeared in front of him. Akito kept his face emotionless. Her outfit was different, but she didn't look any older than the last time he had seen her. Not that he was surprised. She was still only twenty-three, because the last three years hadn't existed for her. It was as if the whole universe had tried to pass her by-- but it had fallen apart without her. It made him sick to think about it. It made it even worse to know that he could miss anyone that badly. And to know that she was so close and yet he still couldn't reach out to her.

"Go back," he said, his voice like ice. "You've made a mistake."

"Akito!" she began again, her eyes going wide with hurt and surprise. "What...?"

He cut the transmission. 

The pain he watched on one end was quickly replaced with another kind of anguish-- a certain longing. He could practically _feel_ the annoyance that rested in his line to the Eucharis. He chose to ignore it. "Lapis, I'm coming back."

"Was that necessary?" she asked him emotionlessly, as oblivious to her own frustration as Akito was aware of it. "Destroying the drones?"

"There wasn't anyone inside any of them, if that's what you mean."

"It wasn't."

"Don't fuss about what I feel." He said, his irritation surpassing hers. "If it's not interfering with sysop, it's not your concern."

******

"Captain?" Eri asked worriedly, turning to Yurika. "What are we going to do?"

"If we had more time_ I _could trace the jump… with the sensors…" Jun offered faintly, his window hovering unassumingly at her elbow.

Erina, seeing the glazed "I'm-about-to-cry" look in Yurika's eyes, took the opportunity to break in. "Our mission is to destroy the Nadesico C." she reminded everyone sharply. "And Akito jumped at exactly the same time as the Nadesico. He knew you'd be distracted by _him_, Captain, so you couldn't trace the ship. And now he tells us to back off. Why is that? _Well?"_

Yurika didn't move. Erina, eyes flashing, slammed her hand down on the console. "It's a trick. He's with _them_. There's no other explanation. Captain, I've held my tongue for a long time..."

"Ten minutes hardly counts as long..." Mikako commented dryly. Erina shot her a death look.

"...But I don't think your method of trusting gut instincts is a good one! I realize that you have feelings for him, and so do the rest of us, but you can't disregard the circumstances!"

"Wrong." Yurika said flatly. "You're wrong. I know Akito." She paused for a moment, pieces of the puzzle falling into place. "The Successors want the Artifact, but they obviously haven't got it yet." she said. "The Artifact is in the Osaka spaceport. That's where we'll go."

"Captain!" Erina snapped, but Yurika turned on her with equal determination. 

"Osaka spaceport." she repeated. "Now. We'll use the chulip in Serandala. And Jun, patch me through to Akatsuki. He should be able to tell me what I want to know."

_Akito..._ she thought as she exited the bridge and swept angrily down the hall, _That was unnecessarily cruel._

_******_

"She wants to talk to you." Jun said, turning to face Akatsuki. 

"Did she say where?"

Jun paused for a moment. "She'll be in the kitchen."

"Did she tell you that?" Akatsuki raised an eyebrow. "That's a rather unusual location."

"That's where she always goes when she wants to think about Akito." He frowned. "I'd say she was on the observation deck, but with all that's happened there lately…"

Akatsuki waved a hand to silence him and left the hangar. Jun's frown deepened into a scowl, but he decided that, as second in command, he'd probably be of more use on the bridge than in the cafeteria, anyway.

******

"It looks like you have things all raveled up," Kusakabe commented, eyes closed and arms crossed. 

"Well?" Genichiro asked, the monotone of his statement veiling his anxiousness.

"Well." Kusakabe paused, his form still and completely relaxed. "I won't help you. But I will swear that I won't help Aritomo, either."

"That's all I ask." Genichiro turned to leave, but Kusakabe's sudden laughter stopped him.

"You seem so disgusted with me." he chuckled. "But we're not so different, you and I." 

"Oh?" Genichiro answered coldly. "How so?"

"We are both visionaries-- and visionaries always think they are right. And when they are, in fact, wrong, it takes a catastrophe to make them realize it. For me, I realized my error when my armies fell to an enemy who was not evil, simply different. You acknowledged your terrible mistake when you observed that your enemy suffered from your best friend's assassination, more than you did."

"That's a stretch."

"Not really. But visions aside, you and I are traitors."

"Do you have a point?"

"Don't lose your temper." Kusakabe sighed. "Young people... ah, well. You murdered your best friend for falling in love with a woman from Earth. I surrendered the ideal that I hold most dear to preserve the lives of my followers. So which of us is the worse sinner, I wonder?"

"Are you finished with your babble yet, old man?" Genichiro's voice grated across the room.

Kusakabe laughed again. "Very good, very good. I expected you to make excuses for yourself. And my dear friend, here is my point: Just as the real reason you shot Shiratori Tsukumo was because of your faith in your government, the real reason I surrendered was because I had no faith in my men whatsoever. They are all fools, and so I gave up my quest for higher purpose and preserved their lives in the hopes that someday they would gain wisdom. It would seem that they have yet to achieve it."

"You're the fool if you truly believe that." Genichiro muttered and shut the cell door behind him decisively, gritting his teeth at Kusakabe's odd laughter.

"I believe everything with the ring of truth to it. I don't envy you at all, you know." he called after the Jovian. "I'm serving my penance in here, and it suits me just fine. You-- you're stuck in a cage because you can't bring yourself to truly repent of what you've done."

"You've made your point." 

"You're only angry because you know I'm right."

"That may be true." Genichiro gave a sigh of relief when he was finally out of earshot. That was the last time he was ever going to try to reason with that man again. Ever.

******

Yurika waved cheerily to Lapis, who had been given her own room--Ruri's old one-- and was currently deeply involved in exploring it, and then turned back to Akito.

"Walk me to my room, okay?" she said, taking his arm. "We can talk privately there."

Akito tensed up, but agreed, and the two went in silence down the hall, up two decks in the elevator, and a few yards through the corridors until they reached the captain's suite. Yurika let go of his arm to open the door and motioned him inside, but Akito didn't move, and they ended up facing each other with the doorframe in between.

"Akito...?" she asked, slightly unnerved by the fact that she couldn't see his eyes behind his dark mask.

"I'll be going back to the Eucharis as soon as the Artifact is secured again." he said finally, in clipped tones.

"What?" When he had said they would talk later, Yurika hadn't really expected to do much talking, nor had she expected him to dash her happiness upon the rocks like some sort of twisted siren. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that we've grown too far apart and it's time we went our separate ways for good. If it helps, consider me dead."

Yurika spluttered wordlessly for a moment, unable to comprehend what he was saying. He had to be joking, right? Why was he so..._cold?_ He had no feeling whatsoever-- just spoke matter of factly about ruining her entire life. Oddly enough, she found the situation rather laughable. Where was the Genkigangar-obsessed screaming cook-turned-pilot she had fallen in love with? Why, he claimed to be dead. And with the amount of emotion she was getting from him, she was inclined to agree.

"You should move on. You deserve a husband who will be there for you."

"Oh, no," she started, finding her voice. "Don't you _dare_ start that 'I'm not good enough for you' stuff! So you're not _exactly_ like you used to be-- you still have the same soul and you're still the same Akito that I..."

"You're wrong." 

"No I _am not!"_

"That man is dead, Yurika."

"Stop _saying_ that!" Yurika cried, putting her hands over her ears as if the motion could stop what had already been said. "Why do you always have to be so melodramatic?"

"I'm _not!_"

There it was--the glowing lines framing his face. Akito had finally lost his temper. That was what she had wanted; for him to be passionate about everything like he used to be. So why didn't she feel any better? 

"Look at this." he continued, tearing his mask away as if it pained him. "Just _look!_ Every time I get worked up _this_ happens and I go all numb. I can't think for myself-- I'm dependent on a little girl who's more lonely than Ruri ever was, I've lost all my senses and I can't even _dream_ any more!"

"So what?" she demanded, grabbing his sleeve. "_So what?_ So you've changed? Who cares? If you can't dream then I'll dream for you! That's what people who love each other _do_, Akito! They take care of each other!"

He didn't answer. The anger faded from his eyes, but his face didn't cease glowing. They stood there staring at each other in a silence that stretched painfully. Then Yurika let go of his sleeve like it was a disease she was afraid of catching. She wasn't crying, which was strange even to her. She just felt numb. Numb inside, numb outside-- if her knees hadn't been locked she was certain she would have fallen over. She wanted to yell; to kick and scream until he told he that he loved her too. But she couldn't do that either. She just stood rigid, staring at someone she thought she knew. Except that Akito had never been that cruel before. She wasn't even aware that she was moving until her hand slapped the keypad on her right and the door slammed in his face. Then she sat down in her chair and fumed until the waterworks started, drenching her gloves and her jacket and hair with tears. Had she bothered to turn her lights on, she would have noticed her own face shining with strange glowing lines in the mirror.

******

Akito stared at her door for a full minute, wondering at the realization that this was the first time she had ever gotten truly angry with him. Sure, they'd had their arguments before, but he had never seen such a look of desolate hatred. Ever. And it only made it worse that he had seen the same expression on his own face, reflected in her eyes. Only he didn't hate her. He hated himself.

_That makes two of us,_ he thought savagely, and started to leave. But by chance or Fate (Akito wasn't sure he believed in either, though both seemed to be out to get him), he happened to glance at her nameplate as he turned, and stopped dead. 

_Tenkawa Yurika_

"Tenkawa?" he said softly. Nowadays, women practically never took their husbands' names. And when they did, it was usually both names hyphenated. But Yurika had chosen to use his name, and not her own.

He almost knocked on her door then and there to apologize, but couldn't seem to lift his arm. Biting his lip until he tasted blood, he whirled away and moved quickly down the hall, trying to rationalize that Yurika had only decided to go by Tenkawa to differentiate herself from her father.

******

Lapis opened her eyes and froze. "He didn't..." she whispered, sitting up in her bed-- the first bed she had slept in unbothered by Akito's nightmares. It had to have been a dream. But she knew it wasn't. 

_How could he?_ she thought bitterly, running a hand across the silky arm of her satin pajamas--also something she had never had before. They were hand-me-downs, leftover from when Ruri had lived on the Nadesico, but she didn't care. They made her feel wanted. And now Akito was going to take it all away again. She supposed she just wasn't meant to be happy. Some people weren't. And some people, like Akito, seemed determined to be miserable all the time. Why, she couldn't begin to guess. But it wasn't her place to question.

She changed back into her own clothes, folding Ruri's pajamas neatly and putting them in the drawer Yurika had pulled them out of. Then she sat in the recliner and waited for Akito to come get her.

He never came, but Lapis, running over his fight with Yurika in her mind, began to piece together what was going on. And realized that _she_ was at least partially to blame for Akito's behavior. And since he wouldn't make amends, she would have to do it for him. So she got up and, carefully retracing Akito's steps, found her way to Yurika's door.

******

"Akito? Where are you going?" Eri asked cautiously. "We thought you'd come down to the kitchen to say hi to Howmei and the other girls."

"I'm going to go see Ruri and the others." Akito answered shortly. "I think it would be better if I stayed on the Nadesico B until the battle starts."

"But..."

"I'm leaving Lapis here. Be nice to her."

"But Akito..."

"I can't stay. But it was good to see you again, Eri."

"_Akito_..."

But the red Aestivallis was already moving out of the elevator shaft. 

******

"Damn it damn it damn it _dammit!"_ Akito cursed, just for a moment reverting to his old self. That hadn't gone the way he'd planned at all. He could still see the perfect scenario in his head-- everything perfectly synchronized so that everyone ended up content if a bit confused. But _no_, he had to go and lose it around Yurika; the fact that all he was thinking about during their whole fight was kissing her and then accepting her invitation to her room and...

"_Dammit!"_ he yelled again. Damn Lapis. Damn the Artifact. Damn everybody. It just wasn't fair. He'd thought he'd be all right. Just being with her for a day or so was supposed to bring him solace. But instead they'd had less than two hours together before he'd driven yet another wedge between them. Never mind that he'd been completely miserable for those two hours, anticipating the coming ugly scene.

He took several deeps breaths and forced himself to call down. Losing control had always gotten him into trouble and it still was, apparently. Well, at least he still had Ruri. Ruri and Minato and Ryoko and all the others. He was sure he could keep his cool around them; it was impossible for anyone to get excited with Ruri them informing them they were idiots. Well, impossible for everyone except when Yurika was around.

"Damn it!"


	6. Ambush

Disclaimer: MBN doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Kia Asamiya, Xebec, TV Tokyo, ADV, and everyone else who can pay for it, but not me. 

PART FIVE:  Ambush 

"It's estimated that the Nadesico C will reach the chulip on the Eden moon colony in two hours thirty-seven minutes." Ruri commented to no one in particular. Another three hours travel time in Earth's orbit since all chulips in the Osaka area had been deactivated--five hours until the battle. That was enough time for the crew to get some rest, but she doubted they would. Akito had just requested permission to board the Nadesico B. He said Yurika had suggested it, and even given a passable explanation for it, but everyone knew it wasn't true.

"A fight already?" Megumi had asked. 

"And I thought they'd never have one." Minato commented. Megumi sniffed lightly.

"I've been predicting it for years."

"Bakabaka," Ruri muttered under her breath, and left the bridge to Harry.

Surprisingly, Ryoko was perfectly willing to let Ruri be the first to see Akito. Though she suspected that Saburota and the other two pilots had something to do with it, Ruri chose not to question. So she was alone in the hangar when his Aestivallis glided in.

She wasn't sure what she expected. From what she had seen of Akito's reception to the Nadesico A, he had been reserved and the focus had mainly been on Lapis. But he'd left Lapis behind him. She had resolved not to let herself be affected by his strange, self-torturing attitude; the one that had disturbed her so much before. When he jumped down to stand across from her, she braced herself for the toneless greeting and the painful wrench in her chest when he spoke so lifelessly. But she hadn't prepared herself for the warm embrace that he gave her instead, and so it was almost worse than the blankness she had steeled herself for. He said nothing, and she didn't press him, even though she could feel him trembling slightly when she returned the hug. She could only wonder at the weight he must carry, to allow himself to be pushed further and further away from his loved ones. She felt her vision blur and froze the tears before they left her eyes. She had never been one to cry and she wasn't going to start now.

It was only later, when Hikaru had cautiously poked her head into the hangar quickly followed by the flood of people who wanted to see Akito that Ruri realized they had never said a word to each other. 

******

"Lapis!" Yurika exclaimed as she opened the door. She quickly appraised the girl's expression and then drew her inside the room, the door swishing closed behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize..." she said hesitantly, not meeting her eyes. "For-- you know. What he said... I don't think he _wants_ to hurt you, but he feels like he has to. It's my fault he's so mean; so please don't be angry with him for leaving..."

Yurika smiled sadly. So Akito had gone. Maybe it was just as well. She couldn't tell what he was thinking any more-- couldn't even begin to think up an explanation for herself. "It's not your fault." she snapped her focus back to Lapis painfully, hoping that her face wasn't as tear-stained as she thought it was. "Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?"

Lapis hesitated, wanting to explain why it _was_ her fault but not wanting to disobey Yurika. Yurika observed her miserable expression and smiled in spite of herself.

"Would you like to stay here for a while, Lapis?"

Lapis nodded slightly, a small smile touching her face. Yurika matched the smile with a brilliant one of her own. "Come on. I'll read you a story." She pretended not to see how Lapis's entire being lit up when she mentioned a story. What had happened to Akito? He had always read stories to Ruri and spent time with Ruri and _loved_ Ruri but now he was neglecting this poor girl-- for what? The simple crime of existing? On an impulse, she handed Lapis the teddy bear her father had given her for her fifth birthday. Once again, she had to pretend she didn't see the girl's awed surprise, instead focusing on the pages in front of her.

"Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Keiko, who lived with her mother in a bamboo house..." she began when Lapis had settled on her lap. The story only lasted a few minutes, but Lapis interrupted before Yurika could start another one.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Yurika answered. She flipped through her storybook absently-- it had been years since she'd picked it up, and she had only brought it with her because it reminded her of her childhood on Mars. She felt less silly about it now that the book had a practical purpose. "Would you like to hear the Knight's Tale or the Dragon's Daughter now?"

"Okay." The reply was faint. Yurika's face softened to take on a motherly look, strangely out of place on her hyperactive face as she glanced down at the sleepy child--sleepy _girl_, Yurika realized. Lapis would have to be at least thirteen. Perhaps she was just humoring Yurika by letting her read fairy tales to her.

"Are you comfortable like that?" 

"Mm-hmm. You're warm." Lapis whispered faintly, tugging at some wayward locks of blue hair as her eyes fluttered shut. Yurika smiled and pulled the sofa cover up over both of them, and switched the fairy tale book for a mystery novel she had been reading lately. She had gone a few pages when a Lapis's soft, measured breathing indicated she was asleep. Yurika gently moved her to the sofa pillows and slipped off the couch, smoothing her jacket. 

As she stretched to turn off the light, Lapis stirred a little. "Yurika..." she breathed lightly, and Yurika went rigid. She recognized that tone, even though it was coming from a young girl. Then, white hair falling down the side of the cushions, Lapis curled up tighter and clutched the teddy bear in her hand as if her life depended on it. Yurika shook her thoughts aside and turned off the lamp. She needed to call Ruri and find out what excuse Akito had used to explain his abrupt departure for the Nadesico B. She'd have to change her plans, too. But with any luck, Lapis would be able to sleep right through the battle.

******

"For someone who was so bound and determined to see him, you don't seem so enthusiastic right..."

"Shut up." Ryoko snapped. "The tension level over there is way too high."

Saburota glanced over at the knot of people a few yards away. Akito was standing with one arm around Ruri and both were surrounded by Megumi, Minato, Yukina, Hikaru, Izumi, and some random other crewmen the author doesn't feel like naming at present. They all seemed pretty much at ease. Akito was even laughing some. He took all this in and turned back questioningly to Ryoko. She anticipated his question.

"You don't know what he used to be like." She could see his anxiety clearly-- Akito's laughter was too quick, almost feverish, with a shallow intensity. Just how bad _was_ that fight? "I don't... hey!"

Saburota looked back over his shoulder. "I'm going to go pay my respects." he said. It looked like he wanted to add something, but closed his mouth and resumed walking. Ryoko was impressed; he had never showed much in the way of discretion before. She looked over at Akito, smoothed her shirt subconsciously, and followed Saburota.

******

Ryoko wasn't the only one who took note of Akito's behavior. In fact, most everyone who talked to him got the sense that he was in some sort of delirium. He neatly sidestepped all questions about what he had been doing all this time, and everyone tactfully didn't mention his fight with Yurika. Instead, most found themselves recounting what they had been doing for the past couple years.

Megumi was one of those people, but she wasn't satisfied with the way Akito's reunion was going. The way he talked sounded like he was ashamed of what he had done, which could in all likelihood have been true, but more importantly, it sounded like he wasn't planning on sticking around long. That bothered her. So when Ruri was summoned to the bridge and Akito insisted that he really had to work on some minor repairs with Seiya, she didn't leave with the rest of the group. She also didn't pretend not to see the pain in his eyes as everyone left the bridge with an uneasy cheerfulness.

"Akito, can I talk to you." It wasn't a question. Akito's smile wavered visibly.

"About what?"

"Oh, it won't take long," she assured him bitterly. Akito hesitated for a moment, but nodded for her to continue. She followed him as he started some routine checks on the Aestivallis, not really noticing what he was doing-- had she been looking she would have seen that while he tugged at a few wires here and there, he wasn't even trying to check them for wear and tear.

Megumi paused, wondering where to begin. 

"I'm engaged, you know." she said suddenly. Akito opened a panel on the side of his Aesti, fishing around in his toolbox for a wrench. 

"Congratulations. I hope--" he dropped the plate he had opened. "What?! What are you talking about, engaged!?--"

"--I haven't told anyone. I'm not supposed to tell anyone until after my movie comes out--"

"--When was this going on?--"

"-- For publicity's sake." She blushed, slightly ashamed of herself.

"Who to?" Akito demanded with barely a pause for breath.

"His name is Aiden Boucher. He's half French." Megumi looked at her feet, trying to force her way back to the topic she wanted to discuss. "He's the commander of the UE _Sunflower_."

Akito calmed himself down and sat back against the cool metal of his Aesti before continuing. "Not an actor friend, then? Megumi Reinard Boucher. It sounds nice."

"I think so... that's not the point!" she cried in irritation.

"Yes, well, what is the point?" Akito asked, retreating to safer ground. "I'm happy for you, of course. But..."

"Look, Akito," Megumi sighed, trying not to lose her nerve. "We didn't have a very good break up. But I always thought of you as a close friend."

"You told me I was a bastard and you never wanted to see me again."

"I was drunk. I apologized later."

"Right before you told me we shouldn't see each other anymore."

"Why are we fighting about this?"

"I don't know!"

Megumi paused, smiling. "No matter what I said, I've always thought I could trust you with anything. That's why I told you about Aiden."

Akito blinked. "Thank you." Megumi shook her head angrily.

"Akito, whatever's wrong, you can tell me! You can trust me! That's what I wanted to say."

"I _do_ trust you." Akito returned, surprised.

"Then why are you being so distant with me?" she asked. "With _everyone_?"

"If I told you, you'd die."

"Akito I'm trying to have a serious conversation here so if you'd kindly grow up then..."

"I _am_ serious!" Akito said, slamming both fists down against the plating, the wrench making a clanging noise that echoed across the room. "If anyone knew what was happening, they'd get themselves killed trying to stop it." He turned on her with a ferocity that scared her. "I _won't_ let that happen. _That's_ why I'm so distant."

"Akito, that's not a good enough explanation!"

"_It's going to_ _have to do!_" he shouted at her. Megumi backed away in silence, tears stinging her eyes. So much for that-- apparently he didn't want her help. But if it was _his_ fault, why did she feel like such a failure? "Dammit." Akito muttered, rubbing on arm across his forehead. "Megumi, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." she answered sullenly. "I understand." With that, she turned and fled the hangar. Akito debated going after her, but apologies would probably also require the explanations that had caused this fight in the first place. 

"Oh, sweet heaven have mercy!" a scream came from behind him. "What have you _done_ to my precious Aestivallis?!"

Akito looked down at the dents he had made with the wrench during Megumi's outburst and sighed. Apparently, there was going to be hell to pay with Seiya, too.

******

The four Aestivallis pilots sat quietly around the table in the girls' room. They'd been discussing something-- Ryoko wasn't sure of everything that had been said. She was only half listening.

"...So..." Hikaru's chatter faltered and she stopped, winded. "So."

"Do." Izumi giggled. "Re mi fa sol!" But even her laughter faded away abruptly.

"Well, I guess there's nothing left to do but mind our own business." Hikaru recovered brightly. 

"And wait." Saburota yawned. "Got anything to drink?"

"He'll be his old self again sooner or later." Ryoko muttered, staring at the table. There was a silence. She looked up to see two blank looking woman and a rather amused Jovian. "What?"

"I was talking about the battle with the Successors." Hikaru blinked, pulling a six pack of root beer out from an unspecified location. 

"So was I," Saburota added. "I guess we know where your mind's been for the past hour. Tenkawa, Tenkawa, Tenkawa!"

"Akito, Akito, Akito." Hikaru corrected with a laugh. Ryoko glared at them all and took a can of soda, finishing it in one swipe. She slammed the now empty can back on the table and glared some more, ignoring the hot spots that rose in her cheeks.

"Why so blue?" Saburota asked suddenly, tucking his arms behind his head and rocking back on his chair. "So he's got a little culture shock. He'll get out of it. After all, he's spent years out of the loop with only that Lapis chick for company. I'm sure he'll go 'back to normal' again sooner or later, Ryoko."

"That idiot was never normal." Ryoko sniffed disdainfully. 

"Yeah, I'd have to agree that any _normal_ guy would be back on the other Nadesico with the hot admiral." 

"Okay, so it _is_ really early for them to be fighting, but it's not like they're the first couple to have an argument," Hikaru admonished between sips of root beer. 

"That's something that people who have _real_ relationships do." Ryoko informed Saburota coldly.

"Then I guess _our_ relationship is exceptionally real."

"Real _stupid,_ you mean."

"Our arguments or our relationship?"

"_What_ relationship?"

"Whichever one you're talking about."

Ryoko glowered at him and the two stopped tossing answers around like footballs. Amusing as that scene had been, Hikaru was kind of glad it had ended. Her neck hurt from looking back and forth between them.

"At least he's back." the green-haired pilot said at last, primly changing the topic.

"Back in the sack!" Izumi began to giggle.

"Not likely." Saburota quipped. Ryoko grew bright red and turned on them with righteous anger.

"Oh, shut up, all of you! It's none of our business!"

She didn't know why she was so surprised when they all stopped talking.

******

"Ruri is calling. You're going to have to renegotiate battle plans." Jun told Yurika when she found him.

"Thanks. I'll take it in the conference room."

"Yurika..."

"No time, must go!" she chirped, plastering a sloppy smile across her face and making a quick exit before he could ask the question.

******

"He told me you wanted to have Seiya upgrade his robot before it went into another fight." Ruri announced by way of greeting. Her cold gaze was steady and expressionless, but Yurika knew her well enough to sense her confusion.

"Of course!" she laughed. "I can't have my Akito getting destroyed 'cause of old, faulty wiring!" _Still my Akito, _she assured herself, though she almost choked on the sentence.

Ruri blinked twice, just to prove that her story wasn't fooling anyone, and changed the subject. "Our scanners indicate that the Nadesico C is approximately forty minutes from our current location."

"What?" Yurika, puzzled, glanced at her own statistics. "Ours places it at seventeen."

"If they were using their thrusters, yes." Ruri flipped another screen up in front of Yurika. "But they appear to be content to let the Earth's gravity pull them towards Osaka in a natural orbit."

"Why in the world..."

"Because of this." A red light began to blink on a gray spot on Yurika's map. "The ISS."

"The International Space Station." Yurika said in tones of dawning comprehension. "They're waiting for it to fly over Osaka to give them some cover."

"Right. On top of that, the Successors in the city will undoubtedly be sending up reinforcements. But we don't know how much of the UE equipment they have under their control."

"I see." Yurika mused, tracing the orbits of the space station with her fingertips.

"Should we attack them now, instead of waiting?"

"No. The C is faster than my ship and more powerful than yours. It could easily evade us if we left our post."

"We could send half of the fleet..."

"But as long as we don't pose a threat to them, the Successors will use the beam cannon against the other ships."

"So of course, the only logical thing to do would be to send one of our ships and keep one here." Ruri stated. "Only that's exactly what they expect us to do. They'll probably use whatever they've got down on the surface to take out the weakened fleet."

"And they've got the Artifact." Yurika reminded her. "I may be able to access it, but I can't stop them from using it, and while they have it they've got an automatic shield against us. Whoever stayed here wouldn't be able to retaliate."

"Then we wait?" Ruri asked, understanding that it was the only possibility but uncomfortable with it all the same.

"We wait and look for something they don't expect." Yurika nodded. "Call me back if you get any ideas. I'll do the same."

She signed out and began reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of her small fleet. The Successors considered the twin Nadesicos to be their only threat, but if she could find a ship capable of sizable damage, they would have the advantage of surprise as well as location.

******

Ruri signed out and began reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of the small fleet. The Successors considered the twin Nadesicos to be their only threat, but if she could find a ship capable of sizable damage, they would have the advantage of surprise as well as location.

******

"Sir, we're coming up on Osaka, right on schedule." Nina reported. Shizuka ignored her saccharine smile and continued to trace the ISS's orbit. "Sir?" she persisted, until Shizuka finally sighed and looked up. "What's the battle plan, Sir? We're hopelessly outnumbered."

"We'll wait for the space station to come in and cover our front and block the Nadesico B." he explained shortly. "If we keep the station between us and the B, then once we're past sector three we can outrun the Nadesico A and land safely."

"Sir, with our force in the front we'll be at point blank from the Nadesico A's beam cannon." Yoshio commented, observing Shizuka's color-coded map. "The distortion field will hold up for one hit from the cannon, but the Nadesico can easily build up for two shots before we'll pass sector three. And if we continue at that trajectory, the space station will be blocking one ship and the other will be out of range."

"And what about the other ships?" Nina demanded. "After a hit from the beam cannon the laser fire could just as easily wipe us out."

"Don't worry about the A. Just keep the station between us and the B, and everything will be fine."

"Don't _worry_ about the A?" Nina snapped. "That's the more powerful of the two cannons!"

"I _said_ _don't worry._" Shizuka hissed. "We've got two top agents over there. The cannon will never fire."

Yoshio shrugged, looking at Nina. "And if it does Aritomo can juice up the Artifact and incapacitate all the jumpers; Ms. Misumaru most of all. Without her, half of Nergal's defense will fall apart."

"So will half of our agents." Nina muttered, but moved back to her position without causing any more ruckus.

******

Erina sighed, watching Akatsuki's unconscious form. His jump had knocked him out pretty good-- ah, well, back to the drawing board. Maybe she could concoct a non-drowsy nano-injection. She wasn't even sure he'd wake up in time for the battle. But speaking of the battle...

She fished a small slip of paper out of her breast pocket, holding it up to the light so she could read the invisible lettering stained on it. Then she tucked the paper away again and headed down towards the bowels of the ship, a thin smile on her lips. She enjoyed playing with classified information entirely too much.

******

"Well, that should do it," Seiya announced, brushing her hands off on his coveralls and streaking them with oil. "The only hitch is that the battery source you've been using for the past few years just isn't going to cut it."

"What did you do?" Akito asked, slightly suspicious.

"Well, you're going to have to depend on the Nadesico for power again. Either one will do-- this Aesti is 100% compatible to any Nadesico class ship we've got in the skies."

"Make it compatible with the Eucharis, too, and I'll thank you." Akito said shortly. 

Seiya shook his head. "I could do that, given six or seven hours. Wait till after this fight, okay? Jeez, you'd think a man on a ship full of beautiful women would want to stay a little longer..." he muttered as he disappeared into Akito's cockpit to reroute some new IFS monitor systems. Akito pretended he hadn't heard.

******

"Erina, can I talk to you?"

"Kyaaah!" the woman shrieked, jumping as she whirled around. Then, seeing it was only Jun, she took a deep breath, tugged at the hem of her uniform in annoyance, and fixed a glare on her face, eyebrows slightly raised. "If you want something you shouldn't go around jumping people in the dark."

Jun glanced up at the well- lighted hallway and chose not to continue that conversation further. "I want one of your nano-injections."

Erina's eyebrows snapped up higher. "Why?"

"Because the Successors don't know that we can make B-class jumpers without permanent gene manipulation. It occurred to me when Akito used his boson jump to distract Yurika-- we can use unknown factors like that to our benefit." Jun explained. "It would give us an advantage. And we need all we can get-- we're going blind into this."

"You realize that it knocks you out for a considerable amount of time afterwards." Erina said. "I haven't had a chance to test the improved serum to see if the effects are any different. It could react badly with your bloodstream."

"I'll take my chances-- I don't even know if I'll need to use it, but I want that extra insurance." Jun returned coldly. "Since when are you so concerned with safety when it comes to your experiments, anyway?"

_Oops_, Erina thought. Well, what harm could adding just one little unknown factor to the battle do? It couldn't change the outcome to have one extra boson jump, could it? And now that he mentioned it, the opportunity to test her new serum was a hard one to pass up. And Akatsuki probably wouldn't be so willing to let her experiment on him anymore, since he had already gotten the distinction of the first natural born human to make an unaided boson jump.

"Come with me." she ordered Jun, starting off down the hall.

******

Yurika knew about the boson jump long before the knock came on the briefing room door-- she just hadn't known what Ines was doing over on the Nadesico B.

"Come in," she said absently, examining a particularly promising Jovian style Quadra Cylinder Battlecruiser on a 3-D viewer. Prospector peeked his head in the door, and Yurika looked up in surprise. She hadn't seen much of Prospector lately-- she had assumed he was locked in a room somewhere trying to figure out the exact profit margin for time travel in boson jumps.

Ines walked in from behind him, guiding a smaller figure in front of her.

"Ruri wants him here." the blonde explained, gesturing to Harry, who looked around moodily. "So I went and got him."

"He's going to use the IFS here to try and find Omoikane's presence on the Nadesico C." Prospector said. "With Ruri on the B and Harry here, they should be able to cover twice the ground in half the time. If we can use Omoikane to take the ship back from under the Successors' noses, there will be considerable less damage done on both sides."

Yurika nodded. That explained Prospector's vested interest in the situation. Less damage meant less money spent on repairs. "Welcome to the first Nadesico, Harry." she said brightly. "I'd give you a tour, but there isn't enough time right now."

"Let's just go to the bridge so I can get this over with." Harry muttered, shuffling his feet in irritation.

"This is your captain, Harry, you might want to be a little more respectful." Ines admonished gently. Harry stared up at her, then back at his shoes. 

"She's not my captain."

Yurika pretended not to hear. "Ruri must have a lot of confidence in you if she sent you to help find Omoikane." she told him, putting her hand on his shoulder and drawing him towards the bridge. A backwards glance at Ines and Prospector made sure that the two followed at a safe distance. "That's quite an honor."

"I don't think so." Harry said softly. Yurika glanced down quickly. She'd hit the problem right on the nose.

"Oh, it is!" she laughed. "Ruri usually thinks of everyone as idiots and doesn't trust them to do anything. She obviously trusts you very much if she sent you here to help."

"She does?" Harry looked up, eyes wide, but quickly snapped his head down again. "I don't care."

"Of course not." Yurika answered blithely. "Here's the bridge. The IFS console is over to your left. Tell Mayumi she can take a long break now, just as long as she's back before the battle starts."

"All right, Admiral."

"What?" Fukube asked, looking up from his coffee.

"Huh?" Harry said.

"You should call her 'Captain' while you're here." Prospector said, joining Fukube. "It's less confusing."

"But she's an admiral." Harry protested.

"On this ship, she's the captain." Ines explained. "It's always been that way, and it's hard for us old people to change." 

"Ms. Misumaru was the original Captain of the Nadesico." Prospector smiled down at Harry, who refused to look at any of them.

"Ruri is the Captain of the Nadesico." he said sullenly, risking a guilty glance at Yurika. "To me, you're just the admiral. I can't call you Captain because to me, you're not."

Erina, from her position across the room, looked like she wanted to peg the boy with her shoe, but Yurika only smiled. "Then call me what you like, Harry, if it will make you feel more comfortable. We aren't such sticklers for protocol here."

Harry glanced up and her and quickly looked away. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Nadesico C will be in sensor range in three minutes." Mayumi reported, standing. "I'm just going to get a snack in the kitchen really fast."

"You'd better get ready, Harry-kun." Yurika said after nodding to Mayumi. Harry frowned, but decided he didn't mind her calling him Harry-kun so much, and sat down at the small desk in front of Mayumi's chair. The IFS wasn't so different than the one on the Nadesico B, except it lacked the protective dome of windows he was used to having. He raised a couple of useless ones just to make himself more comfortable, then uplinked into Omoikane and established contact with Ruri.

_Ready?_

_I guess so._

******

"Prepare for contact." Shizuka announced, bouncing the signal off the ISS and straight into Osaka's closed communications lines. "Raise distortion field. Get the beam cannon ready. Porter, keep the space station in between us and the B!"

"Aye, Sir." Porter pressed the controls forward with slight hesitation. He had never piloted during a battle before.

******

"Check that, Tower, we have audio confirmation from the Nadesico C."

"Send out the drones." Aritomo ordered. "Aestivallis, stand by for my order."

"Aye, Sir, Left Wing standing by."

"Sir, Right Wing standing by."

"The Brotherhood of Liberty is valiantly standing by and eagerly awaiting your command, Sir!"

Aritomo sighed. "Check, Center Squad."

"Akarui Tsukai, Second Lieutenant, Sir!"

"I asked for confirmation, not your name and rank!" Aritomo thundered.

"Sorry," the voice continued, unabashed.

"Wait a minute," Miki the intern said, looking at her lists. "It says here that the commander of the Center Squad is a Major Yamada Taiko."

"Ah, that's just the boring name my mother gave me. And it's _First_ _Lieutenant_!"

"Aestivallis, launch!" Aritomo shouted, cutting of the transmission. "Well, that's one way to shut him up."

Miki sighed. "You'd think so."

******

_Start_. Ruri thought to Harry. She glanced up at the bridge; Minato met her eyes squarely. "Follow orders from the Nadesico A until we can locate Omoikane."

Minato nodded and turned back to the main screen as Ruri's bubble became completely surrounded with glowing lights.

"Hello, everyone!" Yurika's face appeared. "We don't know what to expect from the surface, but we do know that the Successors will try to use the ISS to their advantage. Aestivallis pilots and all Liatris style battleships, take care of any drones or enemy craft coming up from Osaka. Destroyers, try to take out the guns from the surface. Nadesicos A and B will use the beam cannon simultaneously to take out the C's distortion field. After the field is down, all remaining ships open fire on the Nadesico C." She smiled and flashed a victory sign. "Those are the preliminary orders; please keep open communication lines throughout the battle for any changes and remember not to let the ISS get caught in the crossfire. Nadesico out!"

Yurika sat back in her chair and turned on a 3D model of the battle layout. She looked over her fleet and wished she had a couple of twin battle carriers or a Yumemiduki style battle cruiser at her command. As it was now, there wasn't much in her force that could help take out the Nadesico C. But it wasn't her style to give in to despair, so she forced herself to focus and spent the last few moments scanning the bridge for something out of place. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and she wasn't sure what was causing it. She was never allowed to give voice to her fears, however, as things started happening very quickly after that.


	7. Angsty Stuff and Lots of Gunfire

Disclaimer: I don't own the concept of Nadesico or any of its original characters. But Kia Asamiya did sign my art book at Anime Central. That has to count for something.

PART SIX: Angsty Stuff and Lots of Gunfire

******

"Come, my brethren!" Akarui Tsukai, or Yamada Taiko, yelled enthusiastically. "Today we face our deadliest foe; fight with honor and victory will be mine--er, ours!"

"Major Akarui..."

"Don't speak! The moment of battle is upon us!" the hangar doors bean to open, and Tsukai paused to bask cheesily in its radiance. "And it's _First Lieutenant_!"

There was a sigh. "Yes, sir."

"Very good! Move out!"

"Do you think we should tell him that being a Major is better than being a First Lieutenant?" One of the Aesti pilots asked his friend as Akarui's robot slid out of the hangar at top speed.

"Ah, don't spoil his fun-- he thinks he's some war hero straight out of some anime or another." the other answered. "I don't think he was ever actually in the military, anyway."

******

"It's starting." Shizuka said in a hushed tone. Everyone fell silent, the tension increasing as nothing but the rapid-fire sounds of typing on keyboards and the hum of power from the ship filled the air. Shizuka held off a slight smile. He doubted very much that anyone besides himself had much of an idea of what was actually going on; the thought of Nina's ignorance made him strangely gleeful as he glanced at her face, mouth puckered in grim concentration.

"Beam cannon charged." the sysop reported. "Ready to fire at will."

"First clear shot on the Nadesico B, take it." Shizuka ordered. Nina looked like she wanted to protest again, but kept her mouth shut.

"ISS has reached sector seven." the helmsman looked up. "Moving into position now."

"Message being relayed from the surface-- reinforcements are on the way."

"Excellent." Shizuka sat back in Ruri's chair and waited for the fireworks to start.

******

"First wave coming in." Minato said, glancing at the viewer.

"Launch Aestivallis!" Yurika's face popped up momentarily.

"Roger!" Saburota said.

"Roger!" Ryoko declared simultaneously; she and Saburota had not been able to settle who was the commanding officer. 

"Bob!" Izumi added, because she could.

"Go," Akito said to no one in particular. 

"On my way." Jun said resignedly. Hikaru's window opened, but before she could crack whatever joke it was she was planning, somebody else broke in.

"Come on, you Nergal bastards!" he yelled. "Today is judgment day!"

"Who the hell are you?" Ryoko switched to direct lines.

"Your worst nightmare! Come and get me!" the pilot signed off.

"He's the one in the stupid looking white Aestivallis down there." Hikaru noted, watching the robots come up through laser fire from the Liatris ships.

"What does he want?" Saburota asked. "Or can we just shoot him?"

"No way, he's mine!" Ryoko shouted. "I hate stupid people--hey! Tenkawa, where the hell do you think you're going?"

Akito didn't answer, but continued to dodge the laser fire until he closed in on the thirty some odd Aestivallis. 

"That idiot!" Ryoko snapped, blasting at some drones on her way towards the robots shouting expletives the whole while. "Wait for the rest of us!"

"Watch out." Jun made his only contribution to the conversation. The four remaining pilots scattered and just missed getting blown to bits by the Nadesico C's beam cannon. The Liatris battleship _Magnolia_ and the UE cruiser _Poinsettia _were not so lucky, caught and destroyed in the explosion. The shot also hit the Nadesico B head on, though not as powerfully as it might have since the two other ships had taken the brunt of the cannon's fire. On Yurika's cue, the Aestivallis--mostly standards with a few customs spread around-- from each of the ships in the fleet came rushing in to back up the Nadesico pilots.

Izumi, Hikaru, Saburota, and Ryoko settled themselves in for a serious fight. Well, as serious as they could make it. Jun busied himself taking out drones and covering the others, preoccupied with the itch in his shoulder from Erina's shot. Watching the fight with a detachment that had taken years of training to develop, he seriously doubted he would have to find out if he could be a B-class jumper. But then again, he'd seriously doubted a lot of things that he now regretted.

Blinking, he steered clear of a random Aestivallis that had snuck up behind him. Then he turned up his radio, letting Izumi's weird jokes and Ryoko's yelling drown out his thoughts. He had to stop getting so sentimental during these fights.

******

"Nadesico B has taken a hit. Distortion field at sixty-eight percent."

"They're going to try to outrun us." Gort said grimly. Yurika turned to Mayumi. 

"Beam cannon at fifty percent, Captain." she said, anticipating the question.

"And Ruri's?"

"87 percent." Mayumi answered after a pause.

"The Nadesico B is being blocked, Captain." Admiral Fukube commented. "The ISS will completely cut them off before they can get in a single shot."

Yurika frowned slightly, then hit a button. "Akito, have you still got your psi blade?"

"Yes."

"Use it to bring down the distortion field. All wing Aestivallis, fall in behind the Black Sarena and try to disable the Nadesico when the distortion field comes down."

"What do _we_ do, Captain?" Megumi's plaintive voice startled Yurika, who turned on her in annoyance.

"Try to hit something _useful._" she snapped, feeling sweat trickle between her skin and her gloves. Megumi, wisely enough, told the crew to aim for the surface and take out some of the larger guns and drones. Minato was trying to maneuver around the space station, which continued to plod along on its preset course and refused to get out of her way. Ruri was aware of this, but felt it best to continue the search for Omoikane and trust Yurika to handle the rest.

Akatsuki entered the bridge and took a place in the back without saying anything. He did, however, shoot Erina an inquiring look. She responded with a quiet nod.

"Beam cannon at seventy percent." Mayumi reported as Akito's Aestivallis darted in towards the C. "Nadesico C is charging beam cannon for a second shot."

******

"Hey!" Yoshio shouted on an open line to all the Successor Aestivallis. "Who's the best pilot in your squadron?"

"Lieutenant Akarui Tsukai, sir!" somebody answered immediately. "What can I do for you?"

"Mark the red Aestivallis-- if that's who I think it is, then he needs to be eliminated."

"Sir!" Akarui grinned maniacally and made a 180-degree turn, making a beeline for the Black Sarena. 

"What was that about, Yamasaki?" Shizuka asked calmly. Yoshio turned to face him, an apologetic expression touching his face.

"The knight in shining armor's come back." he said grimly. "To rescue the Princess."

Shizuka raised an eyebrow. "Damn." 

******

Akito was rushing at the distortion field, energy blade ready, adrenaline pumping, when he was suddenly checked from behind by the white Aestivallis from before. It was an unspoken but nevertheless clear challenge. Actually, the pilot in the white Aesti was probably all too willing to give a drawn out, banal speech, but Akito had disabled his radio.

******

Lapis opened her eyes, slipped out from under the blanket Yurika had covered her with, and left the room, angry with herself for not being alert to help Akito.

******

"Beam cannon at 100 percent!"

"Fire!" Yurika ordered, and everyone tensed, waiting to see the damage.

But the only thing that met their ears was a grinding noise and the only thing they saw was black space turned red by the warning lights flashing on the bridge. Harry, surprised, paused in his search. Yurika froze, glowing lines appearing around her face.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, Captain!" Mayumi said nervously. "The beam cannon isn't malfunctioning-- it should have worked."

"Then why haven't we got any power behind it?" Erina punched at a few buttons, but to no avail.

"Well..." Akatsuki said rather sheepishly, "This ship _was_ only meant to be a museum piece."

There was a silence as everyone stared at him. "So the beam cannon isn't going to work because the power coils were never replaced." Prospector announced, horrified. 

"Akito!" Yurika cried, hitting the pads on her console frantically, "Akito, get away now!"

But Akito seemed to be at a standoff with another Aestivallis and didn't respond.

******

Tsukai raised his scythe. They'd all scoffed at him for carrying such a clunky weapon, but it was perfect for a duel. And duels were how _real_ men fought. One on one. They didn't shoot an unarmed man without any warning.

"Prepare to die." he said to the other pilot, who raised his energy knife and prepared to attack. Akarui smiled. A one hit duel, huh? This pilot was a classic. Too bad in space you couldn't walk ten paces and turn. He lowered his spear and, holding it like a lance in front of him, shot out at his opponent like a bullet from the barrel of a gun. The red Aestivallis responded in like fashion.

******

They would have been evenly matched; in fact, Akito would probably have won hands down, if not for one crucial factor. Akito didn't care. The man he fought had some sort of personal vendetta against Nergal. But Akito-- Akito was just waiting to die.

When they passed each other, his psi blade cut deeply into the white Aestivallis, but the other pilot reacted quickly and spun away, slicing into the leg of the Black Sarena. So much for a one hit duel, Akito decided as both of them came around for another shot.

This time, the pilot of the white Aestivallis faked with his spear and used the shoulder of his robot to bash Akito's cockpit, sending him careening backwards just as he swung down with his knife and met empty air. The hit caused less damage than expected, but when he stopped spinning, a strange sense of deja-vu swept over him. Akito looked around at the scene in front of him, which had suddenly started moving in slow motion. He glanced up and saw the beam cannon of the Nadesico C facing him with nothing separating them. The Eucharis sat, like a statuesque sentinel, to one side. Out of the corner of his eye he could make out Earth's horizon. On his other side, he saw a white shape moving in to finish him off. It was a scene he had seen before and had been dreading for two years, but it was also a scenario he had had two years to plan for and accept. He took his hand from the control sphere, and the eyes of the Black Sarena went out.

******

"I can take him out." Nina said, turning the ship a few degrees to the left. "First step to winning a war is to eliminate obstacles."

"He'll jump before you hit him-- don't waste a shot!" Shizuka began.

"He's been disabled; he's not going anywhere." Yoshio watched the scene closely.

Shizuka tensed, but there was nothing he could say. Nina wasn't waiting for his permission, anyway.

******

"No!" Yurika wailed as Akito was beaten back. "Hard starboard, Mikako!" If he wasn't answering her, she would just have to go and get him.

"We're being flanked by the space station, Captain!" Mikako objected.

"Crush it with the distortion field."

"There are _people_ in there!" Eri protested. Yurika slammed both fists down on her console.

"I know!" she said despairingly.

"The Nadesico C is turning." Mayumi stated. "They're preparing to fire their beam cannon."

"They're not..." Mikako started, trailing off as she realized that yes, they were.

"Akito, jump!" Yurika yelled across the empty communications line.

"He's not answering--" Eri said uselessly. "But he must be hurt, or he would have jumped already."

"Nadesico C's beam cannon is estimated at eighty percent." Mayumi reported grimly. 

"Would he have?" Yurika whispered, head bowed. Briefly, she wondered if she could jump and save Akito. But one look at his battered cockpit and she knew that she couldn't visualize it well enough to make the jump; and even if she could, she doubted there was enough room for two people in there any longer. She looked up. "Harry, have you found Omoikane?"

"No," he replied apologetically. "And even with both the Captain and I using separate IFS systems, we'll only be able to cover two thirds of the remaining files in time. And the personal files are so tangled I doubt we can get to them at all."

"Try your best. And please hurry-- it's Akito's only chance now."

"I can cover him." A small voice said from behind them.

"Lapis..." Everyone turned to stare at the girl, making her hesitate and step back. But, hardening her resolve, she looked Yurika in the eyes and continued.

"I can use the Eucharis to block their cannon."

"But it'll destroy your ship!" Yurika protested. "Akito is hurt; the debris will kill him anyway!"

"It's not my ship," Lapis replied bitterly. "There's nothing I want on it. And Akito's a good pilot; all he needs is a delay so he can pull himself together. Jumping is his only chance. Omoikane did not want to be found by the Successors; where else would it hide but a personal file? Even as fast as they are, Ruri and Harry will never find it in time."

Yurika paused for a moment, then nodded and motioned her to continue. Harry moved aside to let her have free reign of the IFS system. Within a few moments, the Eucharis was moving.

"Cannon estimated at ninety-six percent." Mayumi said anxiously.

"Hurry! It's not going to get there in time!" Harry shouted.

"Maybe a deflection..." Lapis said hopefully, but she and everyone else knew that if the beam cannon caught the underside of the Eucharis, it would blow up in Akito's face and there would be no chance of survival. 

"No time!" Erina snapped, wringing her handkerchief.

"Ninety-eight percent!"

"Akito!"

"I'll get him." came a voice-- a completely rational one, in the midst of everyone's panic. Yurika's eyes went wide.

"Jun, what are you doing?!" she yelled, bursting into tears. "There's no time!"

"I'll be fine."

"Jun!"

"The beam cannon is firing!"

"No!!" Yurika cried, watching the Eucharis get blown away backwards, right into the spot where Akito's Aestivallis had been floating.

******

Tsukai felt a strange, transcendent sort of glee as he chased after the red Aestivallis. The adrenaline was incredible; all of a sudden he understood why duels held such appeal in animes. The knowledge of triumph was intoxicating.

"Are you here with me, Niisan?" he asked, and if he squinted hard enough he could convince himself that he saw his brother's hand covering his own, their IFS marks overlapping on the control sphere. "Let's go." He shot off towards his inert nemesis.

But something stopped him. At first he thought it was his inner sense of honor-- from closer up he could see that the lights of the other robot had gone out, and he would not kill someone when they were unconscious. But what had really stopped him was the fact that his battleground had suddenly moved directly in the path of the Nadesico C's beam cannon. Oh, yeah, the fact that they were preparing to fire a gravity blast might have had something to do with it, too.

"What the hell are you doing?" he shouted into his radio, vaguely aware that the small ship off to the side was moving in, trying to block the cannon. As if _that_ was going to do any good. "That's not the way real men fight!"

"I'm a woman." a tart voice snapped at him. "Get out of the way unless you want to get killed as well."

Tsukai grit his teeth. "Hey, you!" he tried to call the red Aestivallis, but the radio was apparently off-line. He would have gone and retrieved the other robot, but that damned ship was in the way. Taking a deep breath, Tsukai switched to a method that had never failed him before (probably because he had never tried it): telepathic communication.

_Wake up._ He ordered_. You can't die like this-- I have to kill you for what you did to my brother. You're not allowed to take my revenge away!_

In a sort of morbid way, he was pleased. He was understanding more and more all the time why his brother had loved anime so much. Saving the enemy so he could wreak his vengeance upon him later gave him chills.

_Hey! Hey, you're not supposed to die here, you idiot! You're messing up the plotline...!_

At that moment, Tsukai felt something he'd never felt before. For just a second, it seemed like the entire universe had been ripped apart and then clumsily glued back together by a preschooler. At first he thought that he had accidentally been caught in the gravity blast and was now proceeding to join his brother in heaven, but the Nadesico hadn't fired yet. Then a very disturbing sight met his eyes. A rather nondescript gray Aestivallis appeared out of nowhere just as the gravity blast was sweeping out towards them, completely engulfing the small spaceship that had moved directly into the line of fire. Engaging its thrusters, the new robot slammed into the red Aestivallis with more force than Tsukai thought necessary (but then again, he wasn't about to be demolished by the energy wave). Once the two robots were in contact with each other, the gray Aesti did that universe ripping thing and both it and the red Aestivallis vanished in the wake of the small ship's destruction. Amazing, it had not been disintegrated. The blast had caught the underside of the ship, causing internal explosions that ripped the ship apart. The amount of debris was incredible.

Tsukai floundered around for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then he thought he heard a voice-- a very familiar one.

_Baka._ It said. _This way._

"Thanks, Niisan." Tsukai answered, turning and shooting off in the direction his brother had indicated.

******

"I think we got him!" Nina said happily. Yoshio shivered; Nina's saccharine smile made her seem very crazy to him. After all, she'd just destroyed someone who even he believed was deserving of a little more dignity than that in death.

"Who cares?" Shizuka snapped. "That was a stupid waste of a shot."

"What else were we going to shoot at?" she muttered in annoyance.

"We were _going_ to use it to cover our tail when we passed sector three." Shizuka informed her. "Which is now. Porter, take us in."

"Yes, Sir."

******

Everyone on the bridges of both Nadesicos froze in stunned horror for what seemed like a lifetime before the debris scattered enough to see clearly again. Yurika stood rigidly, staring at the empty space; her eyes flicked across the larger sections of the Eucharis' hull, whether trying to identify pieces of Akito's Aestivallis or trying desperately _not_ to was anyone's guess. No one wanted to think about Jun-- if they didn't ask, they could believe he was all right somewhere else. There was no point in scanning, either: any piece of sizable debris from the Eucharis could be picked up as an Aestivallis-- or, heaven forbid, a part of one.

On the Nadesico B, things were much the same. Ruri had yet to decide whether Akito's death had been her fault or not. But he had been killed trying to stop the Nadesico from reaching Osaka. More specifically, he had been trying to keep Yamasaki Yoshio from reaching the Artifact. There was no telling what havoc that man could cause if he got his hands on it again. And Ruri was not about to let him go anywhere.

"Fire beam cannon." her lips mouthed out the words, but no sound came out. Which was just as well, because at that moment she remembered that she was perfectly capable of firing the gravity blast. And currently the beam cannon was only at 94% of its full power. "Bakabaka." she whispered to herself, and told Omoikane to fire the second it could. If she had been hooked up to the IFS on the Nadesico C, she wouldn't even have had to wait for it to charge up like this. But she wasn't on the Nadesico C. How stupid of her to forget.

******

Fukube finally broke the silence on the Nadesico A. "They're making their move." And the Nadesico C was, in fact, heading straight for Earth at top speed. Yurika clenched her hands at her sides.

"Fire the beam cannon." she said.

"But Captain..." Mayumi began. Yurika hissed something unintelligible and typed a code into her station. The red lights stopped flashing.

_Safety disabled._ Omoikane's screen popped up.

"Fire!" Yurika said again, louder. 

"Captain, you can't do that!" Erina protested.

Yurika didn't move. "I just did." Her voice was cold and merciless, which was so surprising that even Erina's arguments died on her lips.

"Firing." Mayumi confirmed. The ball of energy began to gather rapidly while everyone on the bridge wondered if their ship would crash into Osaka or just blow up where it was. Then the lights went out.

******

Akito swore as fervently as he knew how. What damn good did it do to know the future when you couldn't do a damn thing to make it better? How the hell had Jun been able to boson jump, anyway? He almost put his hand to the control sphere to ask him, but figured that if he let on that he was conscious he'd have a lot more explaining to do than he was comfortable with. Besides, maybe if he was lucky that Successor pilot would blow up the Black Sarena and solve his problem for him. Fortunately, from what he could make out through the twisted wreckage of his cockpit, it seemed that Jun was picking up the duel where Akito left off. A quick look at his oxygen gauge told him that he was leaking pretty badly. With any luck he would suffocate before he could get rescued. Not the most pleasant way to die, but it got the job done.

So he lay back and faked being unconscious. In the silence, memories began to surface and he was forced to live out his past one more time; a process so painful that he sighed in relief when he finally blacked out, choking on stale air.

******

Tsukai was pretty disappointed with the new pilot's performance so far-- she hadn't sworn eternal vengeance or anything like that. What kind of woman suffered from unrequited love and didn't swear to defend the object of her affections to the death? And the absence of a soundtrack for the occasion left Tsukai embittered and disillusioned. 

"Who are you?" 

Tsukai grimaced. Definitely a male voice. That wasn't right. The bad guys could have unfailingly loyal love struck female followers, but _best friends?_ That was for the good guys! And what a stupid line. What about the speech about hurting his friend? But he might as well humor the man. "First Lieutenant Akarui Tsukai of the Brotherhood of Liberty..."

"I thought you were a Martian Successor."

Tsukai rolled his eyes. Could the man _be_ any more dense? "I'm against Nergal and the Federation. That makes the Successors my allies."

"I'm against the Successors." the man answered. Tsukai perked up. This was getting more interesting. "So I guess that makes us enemies by default."

"My fight isn't with you."

"If you must fight, I'll take his place."

Tsukai grinned. This guy wasn't so bad, after all. "I will have revenge for my brother."

******

"And I will have it for my Captain and my friend." _Oh, for the love of..._ Jun thought. Where the hell had _that_ line popped up from? He really _had_ to stop getting so sentimental about these battles. "Oh, what the hell." Jun sighed. "You didn't hurt Yurika. I don't want to fight you."

There was a pause. "You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Was he actually _disappointed?_ That was too weird. Jun glanced nervously back at Akito's Aestivallis. He had a feeling time was running out.

"But I meant what I said. If killing you is the only way to get my friend back to my ship, then I will."

This time the man sounded considerably happier. "Your devotion is admirable. I'll let you go for now. But tell your friend that Akarui Tsukai will be waiting for him."

"I will." _This guy's a total nutcase._ Oh well. At least Erina would be happy her serum worked. _In_ _fact_, he yawned, _I'm really not *yawn* tired at *yawn*... damn it._

Hooking a towline to the arm of Akito's Aestivallis, he started to drag him back towards the nearest Nadesico-- looked like the A-- but promptly passed out.

******

Yurika was not prepared for such a disaster, which probably made it worse for her. Since Ruri's gravity blast had shot the Nadesico C full on, the added power of a simultaneous shot from the Nadesico A could have completely destroyed the ship. But the hope she had for justice had been extinguished along with the lights overhead. The gravity blast from the cannon, released prematurely, shot off at a strange trajectory. The Nadesico C lost what little distortion field it had left and the laser fire from the ships in the fleet slammed against the starboard side, but the damage was really only enough to force the ship into an emergency landing.

Yurika turned to face Akatsuki, anger heightened by sorrow clearly written on her face. The rest of the bridge was still, waiting for something, _anything_. They didn't know or care what, as long as someone broke the choking death-hold silence had on them. Akatsuki held the master key in his left hand.

Yurika's lips moved, but nothing came out. Then her jaw line hardened, and, reaching back, she slapped him. Perhaps he expected the blow, for his head barely moved. This only seemed to infuriate Yurika more; in the same fluid motion her arm swept down the way it had come and she backhanded him neatly across the cheek, fist closed and shaking with rage or sorrow or shock, it didn't matter which. This he hadn't expected, and he fell back against Erina, who stood rigidly with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth and did not look at him.

"_They killed them!"_ Yurika cried, releasing the tension that silence had built. But as it turned out, tension seemed to be the only thing holding her together. She slumped to the floor, crying brokenly and cradling her face between her hands. "They killed him again. Why won't they leave me alone?" she whispered between sobs. Akatsuki didn't answer; he just placed the master key on the ground next to Yurika, turned and left the bridge without a word. And even Erina, still stiff and pale with shock, didn't try to stop him.

The Nadesico C safely cleared Earth's atmosphere, but Mayumi couldn't bring herself to care. She hadn't even _liked_ this Akito, but he was obviously very special to everyone else, and so his death hurt her as well. And Jun, though distant, had always been kind to her.

******

Tsukai ended up taking both of the pilots back to their ship. By then, his entire squadron had returned to the surface and so had the Nadesico C, it appeared. Well, mission accomplished, at any rate. He sent a message to his enemies, just for good measure, before heading back to Osaka.

******

"Incoming transmission." Eri said grudgingly, not wanting the outside world to intrude on their sorrow but not having much choice in the matter.

"We'll finish this another day," a strangely familiar voice intoned, a window rising to show an even more familiar face. "I, Akarui Tsukai, will avenge my brother."

"Who the hell was that?" Harry asked.

"It's that stupid idiot from before!" Ryoko's window popped up. She and the others were in a semi-subdued state because of the failure of the ambush, but were obviously clueless as to the extent of the loss felt on the bridges of the Nadesico. 

"Captain!" Mikako cried, turning the screen to show the retreating Successor pilot. "That's Mr. Aoi's Aestivallis!"

"How can you tell?" Saburota remarked. "It looks the same as everyone else's."

"What's that behind him?" Eri asked anxiously.

"What the hell happened to you, Tenkawa?" Ryoko asked irritably. "I told you to wait for the rest of us but..."

"Well I'll be damned." Fukube commented dryly. Yurika's head snapped up. Sniffling, she wiped away her tears so she could see what was going on. 

"What...?"

"Hey!" Ryoko yelled suddenly. "Tenkawa! Akito!"

"Jun, what happened to him?" Hikaru's worried voice joined in. "Jun?"

"What, they're _both_ unconscious?" Saburota asked incredulously. "Who saved who?"

"Save the owls." Izumi answered. 

"He must have jumped." Erina said suddenly, shaking herself free of her statuesque stupor. "It worked!"

"Jumped? But why..." Yurika looked around in confusion. "Why couldn't I feel it?"

Suddenly, Erina was at her side, hoisting her to her feet. "You couldn't sense the jump?" she asked with a fervor that was completely lost on the captain. Yurika's elation was infectious. In a single instant she seemed to forget the Nadesico C entirely and dragged everyone out of the depths of depression with her.

"Are they alive? Is Akito okay? Mikako, get them back here!" she ordered, shoving the master key back in its place and running out the door at top speed.

******

"Don't worry, the cannon will never fire." Nina drawled sarcastically as the starboard engine went out. "Sure, chief."

"Miss Cavoresso," Shizuka said cheerfully, "Shut up or I'll shoot you."

Nina glared, but she did stop talking. Yoshio hid a smile.

******

Ruri blinked twice at the turmoil on the Nadesico A and her own ship and began to smile. And this time she didn't care who saw it. Then she slipped back into the IFS and resumed her search. If she couldn't stop Yoshio and Shizuka, then she'd at least make sure they couldn't use the Nadesico any more.

******

Harry glanced around the bridge. Everyone seemed to be absorbed in their own worlds, talking very quickly and very loudly and not listening to anyone else. No one seemed to be in charge-- the admirals were having a conference in one corner. Harry frowned. Ruri would never have let things get this out of hand.

But then he noticed that a good portion of the noise ringing in his ears was coming from the uplink to the Nadesico B. His scowl deepened.

A small hand touched his arm. He looked up to see Lapis smiling shyly at him, offering him his laptop back.

"Thanks," he said sharply, snatching it away from her and typing with renewed passion. The world could go crazy, but _he_ still had a job to do... Glancing up, he saw Lapis's eyes watering and sighed. "Thanks," he said again, more nicely. "Really."

Lapis blinked and nodded, eyes downcast. Every now and again she would look up quickly before returning her gaze to the floor. Harry found it extremely uncomfortable, and turned his focus back to Omoikane with some difficulty.


	8. Unraveling

Disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters in this fic. But I'm broke so don't sue.

PART SEVEN: Unraveling

"Jun will be fine, Captain." Ines assured her. "That serum Erina gave him just knocked him out. He'll be up in two or three hours if Akatsuki's condition is any indication."

"And Akito?"

"Akito..."

"There wasn't anything wrong with him at all, was there."

Ines hesitated, then sighed, shaking her head. "Nothing I can find. But maybe he froze up-- he used to do that, you know."

"Of course!" Yurika smiled like the idea had just come to her. "And how are you feeling?"

"Me?" Ines looked surprised. "I'm very well, actually. The bullets only grazed my side, you know."

"That's good." she paused. "Can I see them?"

"The scars?"

"No! Akito and Jun."

Ines nodded and stood aside with some amusement, jotting something down about Jun's vital stats on her clipboard and moving into her office. Yurika hesitated again, then stopped her. 

"Wait, Ines, before you go..."

"Yes?"

"Akito... he got knocked out during his fight with the white Aestivallis."

Ines stared at her quietly for a moment, then gave a slight bow. "Of course." she said, closing her office door.

Yurika squeezed Jun's hand and whispered a thank you, which she hoped he heard, and turned back to Akito.

******

The first thing Akito registered when he woke up was hot breath against his cheek. His eyes snapped open in alarm, but it was Yurika, not Hokushin, leaning over him with her blue hair forming a sort of privacy curtain around them.

"How dare you do that to me, Akito." she hissed. "How dare you do that to Jun? _Don't_ talk." she ordered when he opened his mouth. "You can tell whatever lies you want, but I know you planned on getting killed out there. Don't deny it!" she snapped when he opened his mouth again.

"I'm not denying anything!" he argued coldly. "I didn't ask Jun to get me."

"You saved Jun's life once. Why did you think he'd hesitate to do the same? You're his friend, he--"

"He saved me because he thought it would make _you_ happy! He's in love with you, you idiot! You're a fool not to see it!"

That stopped her. The curtain of hair disappeared. Akito sat up, watching her as she turned towards Jun's cot. Jun was still unconscious; she gazed at his still form with a tenderness she had once reserved for Akito alone. 

"Jun is my friend, Akito." she said quietly. "He's your friend, too. That's why he saved you."

"Didn't you listen to a word I just said? He's in l..."

"He loves me. He's not _in_ love with me. Maybe he was once, but we weren't right for each other. I always knew that. Even when I thought you'd never come back, I couldn't forget it." She didn't ask him why he wanted to die. He wouldn't tell her and she knew it. Her instincts told her that she was part of the problem, not the solution, and since she always trusted her instincts, she backed off and left him to decide what he would. 

Akito spent a long time after she had left mulling over exactly what she meant when she had thought he wouldn't come back. Had he hurt her that badly? He had only wanted to make his death less painful when it happened. As he was sure that it had to happen.

If he had died out there, Yurika would have gone on a merciless campaign against the Martian Successors, weeding them out of existence before the Doomsday Plan ever went into effect. Now, however, no amount of dedication on his part was going to change the events set in motion by this battle. Or Yurika's damned capacity for mercy.

And the worst part of it was, it had been his own fault that he got saved in the first place. Something he had done differently must have inspired Erina to give Jun a nano-injection. Or inspired something that inspired Jun to _get_ a nano-injection, or something. Time was a confusing thing to mess with-- Akito was a walking testament of it.

******

Shizuka couldn't help but let out a breath of relief as the Nadesico landed, somewhat bumpily, in the Osaka surface port. It was a completely pointless gesture, as he was fully aware that things were only going to get crazier from here on in. He also knew that he'd better hurry or Aritomo would have his head. Glancing about warily, he began to tap at his keyboard, nonchalantly hitting buttons in a seemingly random manner.

******

Aritomo gritted his teeth. How could such a promising officer have turned out to be such a failure? Shizuka had lost the A-class jumpers as well as allowed major damage to the Nadesico _and_ missed the opportunity to use Tenkawa Akito as a hostage before destroying him. In fact, destroying Tenkawa and smuggling Yoshio to Osaka from prison on Mars seemed to be the only good things that he'd managed. Though it was Nina who had killed Tenkawa, albeit by completely wasting a shot with the beam cannon, and it had also been Nina who had hidden Yoshio in the kitchen during the Nadesico's flight. Although Shizuka _had_ been the one to pull the jailbreak on Mars to free some of their best officers and scientists. That had been a brilliant maneuver. Perhaps Nina had been behind that one, too-- that woman needed a promotion. But not too high, Aritomo grimaced. He didn't want to have to work with her himself. Maybe he'd make her the Commander of the Nadesico and make Shizuka her first officer just to punish him. The thought made him grin evilly. But speaking of jailbreaks...

"Miki," he said sharply, "Patch me through to the Sixsome and find out why the commander isn't here to witness his great victory. It's undignified for him to be sitting in a prison."

"Yes, sir."

******

_What are you doing?_

"Trying something." Harry answered shortly, hooking up a few last electrodes to Lapis's suit. "Lapis thinks we can use the VR room to find Omoikane in the personal files."

_Virtual Reality files aren't any more compatible to Omoikane's perimeters than Image Feedback System files are._

Harry's mouth twitched involuntarily. Ruri actually sounded miffed.

"I know, but a huge majority of the personal files on the Nadesico C are three dimensional journal logs." Harry explained as Lapis entered the VR world. "Earlier models of the Nadesico relied solely on IFS, but on the Nadesico C we were trying to integrate the two."

"It's easier to convert a virtual IFS file into a standard virtual file than it is to convert it into a flat IFS image." Lapis interjected, careful to address only Harry so that Ruri wouldn't think she was trying to show off.

"You told me." Harry informed her, but relayed the message to Ruri. After a moment, Ruri contacted Lapis.

_Searching for files blind in IFS is complicated enough, but VR is twice as bad. Make sure nothing happens to Harry._

"I will." Lapis affirmed with a solemn voice.

"What was that about?" asked Harry, who was a little irritated that he'd been left out of the last exchange.

"Nothing." Lapis and Ruri said at the same time. Ruri returned to her own search. Lapis smiled shyly at Harry. "Let's hurry before we waste any more time."

******

"Message is coming through." Erina said sharply, and then immediately turned back to her computer. She was analyzing Jun's blood to find out why her serum had enabled him to make a jump that Yurika, as the Human Imaging System, couldn't trace, yet had knocked him out for even longer than the last concoction she'd whipped up. There was a lot on her mind, but that wasn't why she was being so sullen. Akatsuki, tapping the tabletop with his fingertips thoughtfully, was well aware of what was going on in that woman's head-- he knew her better than he liked to admit, even to himself.

He took a minute to respond to the message and send several things on a scrambled frequency before turning his attention to Erina.

"You're angry with me." 

"I'm not."

"You're lying."

"Of course I am."

"You knew what the risks were when I first laid the plan on the table."

"We didn't have a choice." she conceded.

"But you still don't forgive me for making you do it."

"He could have died."

"You wouldn't have cared if it were someone besides Tenkawa." 

Erina shot him a death look. "I'm sure I wouldn't."

"Hell, you gave Aoi that serum without a second thought, and it could have killed him." Smiling, Akatsuki tucked his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "You're too sentimental, Erina. That's why I'm the president and you're not, even though you want the position desperately and I don't care."

"Don't you have any feeling at all?" she yelled at him quite suddenly.

"No," he answered, unabashed. "Not in matters of business or women."

"That's sick." she whispered, gripping a vial tightly in one hand and a test tube in another. Akatsuki stood to leave the room, chuckling.

"You don't care about my morals." he laughed. "You're just upset because you're as damned as I am and you know it."

_That's not why I'm upset._ she thought, but she didn't let on what she was really feeling. "See you in hell, then."

******

"Sir?"

Genichiro turned to face one of his pilots, still growling. "I loathe myself."

"Are those your orders from Nergal?" another pilot asked. Genichiro shoved the laptop in the man's direction and turned to glare out the window. Quickly, all the pilots gathered around to read the orders. The commands seemed commonplace enough until the very last one; a single line at the bottom of the page.

_Oh, and make some sort of inspirational speech, will you?_

"What kind of order is that?" the first pilot asked incredulously.

"Akatsuki has to be the most callous person in the universe." the second answered as all the others nodded in agreement. Genichiro drove them away with an angry wave.

"You just do your job." he said shortly. "That means go suit up-- we jump on Akatsuki's signal."

When they had gone, sufficiently subdued, Genichiro sat back and closed his eyes. _I'm doing what you want, right?_ he asked Shiratori. _I'm trying to save the future and save lives. That's what you always believed in._ Truthfully, he had to admit to himself that trying to live his best friend's ideals was driving him insane. They had always been good counterparts-- Shiratori the merciful, emotion-driven one and Genichiro the rational and rigid-- but trying to be both was painful.

_And it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't killed him._ he reminded himself cruelly, and left it at that.

******

Mayumi continued to shoot at the artillery cannons on the surface. She didn't have the greatest aim, so she could usually only take out a gun once about every ten shots, but she continued at it doggedly. Some of the other ships in the fleet also continued to aim for Osaka, sporadic laser fire blazing through the atmosphere. It was a small satisfaction; no matter how many of the guns they took out, the actual city was protected by the Artifact's shield.

"Mikako, move a little to the left so I can get a better shot at that.... Mikako? Hello? Anybody?" Mayumi looked up to see a completely empty bridge. The resulting loss of temper would have made the crew very glad that they had been absent for it.

******

Ruri continued scanning in IFS, lights moving rapidly across blank eyes. She went through every file she could before tackling the personal files. For some reason it felt wrong handling other people's journal and letters and personal databases, even if they were all encoded so she couldn't read them unless she took the time to decode each one individually. But she couldn't avoid it forever, and it was stupid of her to be worrying about being tempted to read the crew's private materials when lives were at stake.

When she finally transferred herself into that tangled, chaotic sector, she could immediately feel Lapis and Harry digging away, deeper down and farther in. At that point, she discovered that Lapis had been more than right. Converting the VIFS files to IFS was taking her roughly five seconds longer per file than it was taking Lapis and Harry to convert them to VRS files. However, the other two were constantly losing their focal point and having to retrace their steps to keep on track and prevent becoming lost in the system. On top of that, there were several other presences wandering around-- most likely Successor hackers trying to find Omoikane so they could delete it completely. 

Doing a few quick calculations, Ruri made a decision and took herself out of IFS. As she made the trek to the VR room, she explained to Minato that there would most likely be an attack on Osaka and asked to be alerted if the order came before she had returned to the bridge.

"Also, see how Akito and Jun are doing."

******

"Well?"

The engineer sighed, smoothing out his coveralls, pulling himself out of the maintenance tunnel with some effort. "It's true that the power coils were never replaced."

Yurika's shoulders drooped slightly.

"But they didn't need to be."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that's not what the problem is. The coils weren't damaged during the Jovian War, and the whole system survived being stranded in space for nearly six years. It's remarkably well-preserved."

"So where's the problem?"

The engineer shrugged. "Faulty warning mechanism, I guess. Must have been a glitch in the system, because it's working fine now."

"Oh. Well thanks, try to keep it from happening again!" Yurika smiled and turned to leave. "The system doesn't _have_ glitches." she muttered to herself on the way out. But she knew why the beam cannon hadn't fired. Someone had messed with the safety controls and set the output level at considerably lower than normal. And of course, there was only one person on the ship who could do that besides herself-- well, Harry could probably have managed it, but she pretty much ruled him out since he'd been in her sight the whole time he'd been on the Nadesico A. 

This sort of thing had happened once before, but even though this time she wasn't planning on running, she had to push it aside. There was too much to do-- figuring out Akatsuki's motives this time would have to take the backburner to the more dire threat posed by Yoshio and the Artifact. She wasn't going to let the Successors get their hands on Akito while she was still breathing. And long after she had stopped, if she could manage it. Her shoes clacked quickly across the corridor as she hurried back to the bridge, face drawn and thoughtful. She had to figure out a way to get inside the Artifact's protective shield, which would be harder than it seemed considering she wasn't at all sure how they had broken through it the first time.

******

"Do you think she'll remember us, Commander?"

"Who, the fairy?" Araragi turned to face his eager helmsman. "Why wouldn't she? But anyway, she doesn't even know we're coming."

"Really, sir, leaving the docking area without completing routine procedures was very unprofessional." Araragi's admiral admonished mildly. 

"We're under direct orders." Araragi returned. "From the head of Nergal himself." 

"Hmm," the admiral remarked. "Too bad this battleship is under the Joint Peacekeeping Force's jurisdiction."

"Touche." Araragi smiled. He refused to let his good mood be broken. After all, these were the best orders he had gotten in over a year.

******

"Try it this way." Ruri said to Lapis and Harry. "I'll keep the anchor in my sight. You two fix your anchors on me and then we can double our range."

Running through a virtual file system was a little bit like being lost in a labyrinth. Ruri was providing them with a longer ball of the proverbial golden thread. The three quickly rearranged themselves and resumed their search with their new lifelines. Ruri smothered the smile that threatened to surface when she looked at Harry and Lapis's SD forms floating off in extremely comical poses and glanced away in amusement when Harry tripped over tiny, unseen file and went tumbling into a byte wall. The huge blocks of data surrounding her reminded her of when she and Akito had saved Omoikane before-- except back then Omoikane had still been around to help them. Glancing around, she began to sort through the files directly in her reach. The rock-sized ones she disregarded completely; Omoikane needed something at least car-sized in this virtual mode to hide in. But if she hadn't glanced a little to her left, she might have missed them.

There were three of them, and they were very, very small-- when she picked up the first one it was no bigger than a Rubix Cube. A small black box. What were black files? In a two dimensional mainframe, she would have suspected that it was a file without a compatible application to open it; but the virtual reality program she was searching through now used and recognized every available program to make a three dimensional picture. And in addition, it carried a compatibility drive to make sure each file could be put into use if needs be. Simply put, black unknown files should not exist here. Maybe it was a clue? There was one way to find out.

_Omoikane, descramble_ _file_, she thought after some hesitation. If it was an innocent journal entry, she'd just put it back. But if Omoikane had put it there, it might contain some sort of clue to its whereabouts.

_Unable to comply_.

Ruri frowned. _Open file._

_Unable to comply._

_Troubleshoot._

"I think I found it!" Harry shouted excitedly, and Ruri dropped the box. Windows began to pop up everywhere, the familiar bell pattern blazing across each one. 

_Good morning!_

******

"What the hell do you _mean_, 'confined to quarters?'" Erina shouted indignantly.

"I don't have time to deal with you right now and I don't trust you to be on the bridge." Yurika explained shortly. "Just be grateful I haven't had someone arrest you yet."

"You can't arrest _us!_" Erina returned.

"I haven't. I've just confined you to your quarters, where you won't be able to sabotage the battle." Flashing them a grimace that was not quite a smile, she turned back forward. "Full speed ahead, Mikako."

"And how are you planning to bypass the Artifact's shield?" Akatsuki asked, calmly resisting the security officer's attempt to move him. "Ram it?"

"I'm the Human Imaging System." Yurika replied. "I should be able to do _something."_

"Captain, I'm declaring you unfit for your post." Akatsuki answered immediately. "You are relieved of command."

"Then I _am_ placing you under arrest!" Yurika turned around again. "For tampering with the beam cannon and- and _treason_! And general contempt! Among other things!"

"Too bad. I relieved you of duty first!"

"Who cares? I'm making a civilian arrest!"

"You can't do that!" Erina shouted.

"Can too!"

"That notwithstanding, we're about to ram into the shield." Prospector observed.

"We've located Omoikane, if anyone cares to know." Ruri interjected softly, appearing briefly on the main screen. Akatsuki and Erina glanced at each other.

"Captain, as acting ship psychiatrist, I'm declaring you sane and fit for duty." Erina stated primly. Akatsuki leaned over Mayumi, quickly typing into her console. Before anyone had gathered enough wits to try to stop him, he had sent a one-word message. Where to exactly was unknown, but the message was clear enough: Go.

Akatsuki turned back to Yurika, eyes bright with wicked amusement. "It's easier to break a barrier from the inside than from the outside." The two stared at each other for a moment, as the Nadesico C plowed its way upwards through the Artifact's shielding to meet them.

******

"_What's going on?!"_ Nina shouted, trying desperately to untangle herself from the dusty corner where she had been thrown when the emergency thrusters had been engaged. Batting at the windows that had filled the air around her head in annoyance, she reached for the shoulder holster that she preferred over a hip one. When she had sufficiently regained her footing, she put her gun to Porter's head menacingly. "Whatever the hell you think you're doing, little boy, I suggest that you stop now." Porter didn't move, but the click of another gun sounded from right behind them.

"I wouldn't shoot him if I were you." Shizuka said merrily, brandishing the pistol with a practiced ease. "In fact, Miss Cavoresso, I would back up against the wall and drop your weapon."

The air was suddenly filled with the sound of weapons cocking, and Nina turned to see fully half the bridge pointing guns at the other half. Yoshio stood miserably in the center of the room, hands raised in surrender.

"I was so hoping to enjoy some vacation time," he sighed. Nina bared her teeth, raising both her arms as her pistol clattered to the floor.

"Now then, " Shizuka continued, still grinning triumphantly at Nina, "All of you are under arrest, by the authority of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces. Don't try anything stupid, as the ship is once again under Nergal's control and trying to beat us will not give you your freedom but only increase your coming sentence."

******

"Sir..." Porter hissed as they were rounding their prisoners into the brig (with Omoikane helping to keep them there this time). "Weren't we supposed to wait until Nergal secured Osaka before arresting them?"

Shizuka shrugged. "So I got a little impatient. Objections?"

Porter glared at Nina, who glared back at him through the small window in her cell and began to shout ugly though unheard obscenities. "None, sir."

******

"Death before dishonor!!!" Tsukai screamed, rallying his half-hearted troops behind him.

"There doesn't need to be any more bloodshed." Genichiro shouted, climbing out of his cockpit to stand unarmed on the ground beside it. He had been doing the same thing with all the Successor squadrons that he met. It always went over well--they considered it sheer bravery from a war hero, to come before them with no way to defend himself except his words. The actual truth of it was Genichiro had been hoping that someone would shoot him and that he'd die a cold, graceless death just like Shiratori. But of course, in life only perception counts.

Tsukai bit his lip in irritation. He wouldn't shoot a man in the back-- he abhorred the very idea, but he did very much want to kill that man, and any person who tried to defend UE. And yet, listening to the eloquent speech this man delivered, he could almost believe his words. It didn't help that several of his men recognized their commander from during the war and were already laying down their weapons.

******

Once the Nadesico C had broken the barrier from the inside, it was a simple thing for the other two Nergal ships to breach it as well and head for the surface. Guided by Ruri and Omoikane, the Nadesico C came to a halt some way above the planet, maimed by the loss of its starboard engine. Two Liatris cruisers attached towlines to the crippled craft and escorted it back to the surface. The rest of the fleet began to fan out to make a blockade.

******

Akito glanced over at the cot next to his. "Come on, you idiot, wake up." he muttered. "You're going to miss everything." Whatever other problems it had caused, Jun's rescue had been an act of true bravery and Akito felt it was ignominious for him to sleep through the rest of the battle.

******

Aritomo watched the events unfolding with a sort of detached disbelief. Somehow, the fact that all three Nadesicos had broken through the Artifact's barrier and were now parked on his front lawn found him more irritated than surprised. He wished briefly that people would stop introducing new elements to a fight without informing him first. It really wasn't fair. He looked around for someone to blame the loss on. Shizuka-- yeah, somehow or another, it was all his fault. Where _was_ the bastard, anyway?

"Sir, should we proceed with the removal plan?"

"Yes! By all means, get the Artifact out of here!" Aritomo sighed. Sometimes people were so stupid. They were losing the city; they had to move quickly if they wanted to keep the Artifact in their grasp.

"Sir, they've got Mr. Yamasaki!" Miki the intern said frantically, pointing. Aritomo looked out the window to where she was pointing; it seemed that Nergal had managed to get inside the Nadesico C and capture his crew.

"Where the hell is our ground force?" Aritomo demanded.

"Being mesmerized by the Jovian pilot, sir!" one of the guards on duty supplied militantly.

"Tsukiomi Genichiro is _here_?!" Miki asked excitedly, rushing to the window the guard had been looking out of. "He's _so_ hot!" The three other female interns in the room gathered around Miki at the window, chattering ecstatically.

"Oh, for the love of..."

"Sir, I must insist that we evacuate the city, sir!" the other guard interrupted, sizing up the situation with some apprehension.

The room fell silent as Aritomo gazed out the window at Genichiro's speech. Many of his infantry were ripping their headbands away and crossing to stand behind the smooth-talking Jovian. "Remind me to have him assassinated." he muttered half-heartedly. "All right, let's go."

"But sir!" Kari, a short intern who could have passed in all ways as Miki's twin, spoke up. "What about the crew on the Nadesico C? Shouldn't we try to rescue them?"

Aritomo closed his eyes, trying to decide if there was anyone he wanted to save desperately on the ship. With the possible exception of Yamasaki Yoshio, he couldn't think of anyone. "Is the Artifact safely away?" he asked instead of answering.

"Sir!" the first guard saluted. "It was last reported successfully through the ground blockade and well on its way to Seoul, sir!"

"Excellent." Aritomo picked up his briefcase and headed for the door. "We'll leave someone behind to rescue Yoshio-- where's that Aki Tiki guy? He'll do."

"Akarui Tsukai?" Miki answered. "He's sulking in his Aestivallis."

"Fine. Have him rescue Yamasaki by any means he can. Now let's get the hell out of here."

******

Things had been happening very quickly; by the time the crews of the Nadesicos and the Liatris cruisers filed out into the courtyard, the battle--such as it was--had already ended. Ryoko seemed to be the only one disappointed by this, but even she was too drained to complain about it. Much.

Several members of the crew of the C were herding other members of that same crew into detention vans to be trucked to the nearest penitentiary. One of the ones doing the herding was James Shizuka himself; so no one was surprised when Akatsuki, smug expression fixed firmly on his face, went over to join the man who had taken over the ship in the first place. Shizuka bowed in acquiescence, then returned his attention to his prisoners. Sharing shrugs and looks of confused resignation, most of the crewmen of the Nadesicos A and B followed Akatsuki. They were joined almost immediately by Genichiro, who had finished converting the Successor infantry and pilot squadrons to what he had privately termed Nergalism, or in more cynical moods, Akatsukiism.

******

"Sir." Shizuka bowed again, slightly. Genichiro acknowledged his presence with a nod.

"Disgusting." Nina spat out as she was led away.

"I'll miss you, too," Shizuka informed her, grinning.

"So you were working for Nergal the whole time?" Harry asked, cocking his head. "I should have guessed. No one is as incompetent as you made out to be."

"I thought it was a pretty good acting job." Akatsuki laughed. "Except I might have to dock pay for the 'fool' line."

Shizuka sighed. Sometimes, he wondered if there was some company somewhere where the people got _smarter_ as their rank went up.

"Where's the cap--admiral?" someone asked.

"I'm right here." Yurika chirped brightly. She had hold of one of the recently revived Jun's arms and was helping him make his way painfully down the ship's entrance ramp. Akito was supporting him on the other side. Jun looked mortified and felt twice as weak, but Yukina's face was brilliant as she looked up at the trio.

"Jun, you were so amazingly brave!" she shouted, wrapping her arms around his neck and toppling them both back into Yurika, who latched onto Akito to keep from falling and ended up bringing him down with her. Jun turned bright red, partially from lack of air, and tried desperately to disentangle himself. Yukina just hugged him tighter before letting go. "That deserves a date!"

Jun turned redder, and this time air had nothing to do with it.

******

Though it soon became apparent that Aritomo and the Artifact had evacuated the city, everyone involved felt the day was a success. All the Nadesicos were safely back in Nergal's hands; most of the Successors in Osaka had either been captured or agreed to find a compromise. And perhaps most importantly, Yamasaki Yoshio was on his way to the most secure penitentiary the company could offer. The extended crew of the Nadesico was given three days of shore leave while repairs were made to the Nadesico C. The improvements made on the A were to be integrated into the C's mainframe, and the Nadesicos A and B would be returned to dry dock where they were scheduled to remain permanently. The first Nadesico would be reverted to a war museum, and the B would be used in Nergal's newer, tougher basic training.

Well, that's what Akatsuki claimed, anyway. What that man ever really did was anyone's guess.


	9. Discoveries on Leave

PART EIGHT: Discoveries on Leave

Yurika finally stopped her endless circling. It was late-- most of the shops on the strip had closed for the evening, and the last light of day was almost gone. The first raindrops were falling from the thunderclouds threatening above, and as the rain got worse, she was forced to take shelter in the doorway of the little cafe across the street. He probably wouldn't have come anyway, but now that it was raining she was positive that he wouldn't show up.

In a way, she was grateful. What would she have said to him if he had come? Sure, they'd had that moment of peace when they'd both helped Jun out to meet everyone, but before that she'd basically accused him of attempting suicide. And even though it was true, it wasn't very kind of her to have said. It kind of put a damper on all future conversations they might have shared.

The drizzle turned quite suddenly into a downpour. Yurika shivered, pulling her sweater up around her neck and crossing her arms to stay warm. Then she sat hunched over in the stone archway and waited for the rain to let up.

******

Minato stared down at her glass. Howmei, who had been on the Nadesico A during all the excitement but until now has not made her entrance in this fic, was drying mugs behind the counter. The nightly crowd had cleared out and the restaurant was closed, but Howmei couldn't bring herself to remind her few remaining guests of the time.

Minato herself remained oblivious to Howmei's concerned gaze, mesmerized by the swirling reflection looking up at her from the half-consumed contents of the glass. They painted a sad, lonely picture, Minato and Howmei in the dim and isolated light of the diner, but that image was far from the truth. Minato was drowning in bittersweet memories, yes, but Howmei was agitated, waiting for the coming scene and scanning her pride and joy to make sure that everything breakable or throwable was out of Minato's immediate reach. 

A few minutes later, the object of Howmei's anxiety entered. He glanced quickly at the couple in the darkened corner of the diner, the only other people there. Their faces were shrouded in shadow, but they seemed to be completely absorbed with each other. Genichiro left them as they were, slipping into the seat beside Minato without a word.

She knew it was him immediately, who else could it be at this hour? She had been dreading their meeting, but at the same time knew it was inevitable. Wondering why no one left anyone else to rest in peace these days, she turned to face him.

She didn't say anything, allowing him the first word. It took him a while to finally say it, and when he did, staring straight ahead and not meeting her eyes, it seemed to Minato that he was talking in riddles.

"I saw Kusukabe Haruki before I came to Osaka."

Minato blinked. "I don't care what you do."

"I know. But he told me something interesting, when I visited him." Genichiro continued, eyes still fixed vacantly on the floor. "He informed me that I wasn't truly repentant for what I'd done. And I've realized that he was right." His gaze lifted to meet Minato's, still and unflinching in spite of the bitter resentment he found in her face. "It's not enough to say I was wrong. You probably don't understand how much guilt I feel, but I think I'm beginning to understand the pain that I put you through. And I know that I can never truly forgive myself for what I've done unless you can bring yourself to forgive me."

Minato blinked back tears-- of rage or pity, she couldn't tell. Genichiro slipped off the seat and sank to his knees in a gesture of humility, but Minato could only notice that it gave his pleas a certain measure of dignity that it hurt her to grant him. Shiratori hadn't been given such dignity until after he was too cold to care. 

"It doesn't...." he rushed on in her silence. "It doesn't have to be today, or tomorrow. If you can forgive me someday, then I can be at peace."

"Why don't you talk to Yukina?" Minato found her voice. "You took that little girl's brother away from her. Why don't you tell _her_ why you shot her big brother?"

"Because she knows." a voice said, and Yukina appeared behind Genichiro, her place in the shadows in the corner abandoned. "Because I am as much a Jovian as my brother and Genichiro. I was too young to fully grasp it then, but now I know. My brother was a traitor, Minato. No matter how right he was in the end, he was a traitor, and Genichiro was justified in killing him."

"No!" Genichiro turned on her violently. "That's warped, Yukina. No one is ever justified taking their best friend's life."

"It was an order. You had to follow it."

"Yukina, I killed him because I believed he had betrayed our friendship. By falling in love with the enemy, he had betrayed all of us. That's what I thought. In Gekigangar vengeance was the driving force. But vengeance is wrong. It took his death for me to realize that. After it was done, I realized that nothing had been gained, and I had damaged more than I had repaired." Genichiro stopped when he realized he was beginning to give one of his "inspirational speeches." Minato turned back to her drink, which had somehow become vile to her. She pushed it away, fixing her gaze on the slim white salt shaker and keeping it there.

Yukina stared at Genichiro for a moment, then shook her head as if to say that it didn't matter. "I wanted to kill you for a long time. But my brother wouldn't want me to hate you. So I won't. I'll honor his memory."

"Do you still want to kill me?"

"Sometimes." Yukina answered gravely. "But death already surrounds us. Why should I add to my pain by destroying you?"

Minato's head snapped up suddenly. Her thoughts flew to Akito; had he reached the same conclusion as Genichiro? As Yukina? His revenge had been a righteous one, but it had not brought him happiness. It had prevented future threats from Hokushin, but there were other Hokushins that would rise to take his place. The universe was full of such people. Akito's vengeance had hurt him-- broken him on the inside and made him loathe himself. If it were the same for Genichiro... it must be the same. When she looked into his eyes, she saw the tortured look that haunted Akito. She knew she couldn't add to that kind of suffering, no matter what hatred she felt. And no matter how much it pained her, she knew that someday she would have to do what he asked of her if she wanted to be happy.

"It will take time." she said quietly, and turned away. She couldn't face him right now. But someday... someday, she could. She would make sure of it. 

She left them then, unable to stand seeing the intimate understanding Yukina and Genichiro shared. He had her promise. That was enough, for now.

Jun took the opportunity to slip out unnoticed, opting to walk back to the hotel and wondering why the crew of the Nadesico seemed so cursed in the face of happiness for everyone else.

******

Yamasaki Yoshio stared out the small window, brooding. None of this was really his fault, he thought bitterly. He was a scientist! What else was he expected to do but follow his research? He'd just figured that the history books would clean up any of his discrepancies later as necessary sacrifices in his particular line of duty. Now it just looked like someone else was going to beat him to the punch. Sighing, he focused his attention on the passing road sign.

_Lunar Station 5 miles_

Yoshio's eyes widened as he watched it. He was supposed to be heading for Tokyo and Nergal's war crime penitentiary, which was in pretty much the opposite direction. Casting a wary glance through the barred shatterproof glass separating him from his driver, he was only more surprised to discover that the driver was looking back at him through the mirror. The driver winked and the glass began to roll down.

"Hey there!" he said brightly as Yoshio gaped.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Akarui Tsukai, master of disguise!" the man answered. "And Mr. Aritomo has sent me with an invitation for you to join him on the moon."

Yoshio blinked twice, trying to remember why that name sounded familiar, gave up, sat back in his seat, and just stared. Akarui didn't seem to mind, and kept up the conversation by himself.

"It's really lucky for me that everyone thinks you're so dangerous," he continued. "They gave you your own armored vehicle. If you'd had the other crewmen in there with you I don't know what I would have done with them. Aritomo specifically said that there was only room for the two of us."

Yoshio grunted something noncommittal. Tsukai didn't even check his speed.

"Well, actually he said there was only room for you, but he said I could come as your bodyguard and go up in the second shuttle. I suppose that's because I'm the best fighter in the fleet and he wants to keep me around."

"I thought you were a master of disguise."

"Master of disguise, top Aestivallis pilot, secret agent, ladies' man, you name it..."

"'Aestivallis pilot?" Yoshio frowned. "Weren't you the one I told to kill Tenkawa Akito?"

"Yup, that was me, best pilot we've got to... now _wait just one minute!!_"

Yoshio slammed into the wall in front of him, wishing he'd remembered to wear his seat belt. He had little time to wonder why Akarui had hit the brakes without any notice right outside the gates of the Lunar Station, though, before the man had whirled around and grabbed him by the collar.

"Did you say Tenkawa Akito?"

Yoshio decided he was dealing with a crazy man. "Yes, I did."

"The pilot of the red Aestivallis was Tenkawa Akito."

"Yes, it was."

"The same Tenkawa Akito who discovered the Artifact and was supposedly killed by Nergal special agents during an attack on one of our bases because he wouldn't reveal the secrets he had discovered? The best friend of my brother, also murdered by Nergal bastards?"

Yoshio's frown deepened. "Who told you that crackhead story?"

"What?"

"Let go of me!" The pressure on his neck was released. Yoshio sat back against his seat, adjusted his tie, and regained his dignity. "Thank you."

"What were you talking about?" Tsukai demanded, shoving his head clear through the window.

"Tenkawa Akito was one of the original A-class jumpers taken by the Martian Successors for research purposes about two years after the Jovian War. He escaped with a young girl named Lapis Lazuli who had also been taken from Nergal. Tenkawa never willingly worked for the Successors, nor did Nergal kill him."

"Shut up!" Tsukai shouted. "Tenkawa Akito would never work for the people who killed my brother!"

"I wouldn't know anything about that." Yoshio answered calmly. "I just know that Tenkawa has been interfering with my research for years. I'm glad I've finally been rid of him."

Watching Tsukai's face harden, Yoshio realized that that had not been the smartest thing to say. Tsukai turned around slowly, and, reaching down, put the truck in reverse.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted as the man who seemed more unhinged by the minute hit the gas pedal and sent them shooting away from the Lunar Station.

"No way am I letting you escape."

"You're disobeying a direct order?"

"I quit!"

"And just where are we going to go?"

"Osaka." Tsukai answered through grit teeth. "You and I are going to have a talk with Tenkawa Akito."

******

"Akito!" She sat up instantly, as if she hadn't been dreaming a few seconds before. 

"No, it's me." Jun answered quietly. 

Yurika blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the light-- or lack thereof. "Jun?" she asked in bewilderment. "Where am I?"

"You're napping under a porch." he took in her damp, rumpled clothes and dazed expression. "Looks like you got caught in the rain."

"Oh." Yawning, Yurika took the hand he offered and pulled herself to her feet. "What time is it?"

"Late." He didn't ask what she was doing there-- her first word had said it all. "He never showed up, huh?"

"I didn't really think he would." She declined to take the coat he offered, and he slung it over her shoulders anyway.

"Yes, you did."

"Yeah."

They stood there in silence for a moment longer, Yurika staring wearily at her shoes while Jun grew angrier with Akito by the minute.

"He's just..." he started abruptly.

"I can't blame Akito." she began at the same time. She held up a hand to silence him. "I said some things I shouldn't have while you were unconscious."

"You mean you made him own up to trying to get himself killed?" Jun asked bitterly. "It needed to be said."

Her eyes widened. "You were awake for that...?"

"No, but I heard it still. None of this is your fault, Yurika. Akito has some major issues that he needs to get worked out-- so you don't need to defend him."

"Yes, I do." She put an gentle hand on Jun's shoulder to calm him down. "I know there's a reason for what he's doing."

"You have more faith in him than he deserves...Y-Yurika!!"

"Mm?" she replied, eyes closed and arms wrapped solidly around his waist. Jun tried to pry her fingers away in vain.

"What are you doing?!"

"Thank you for saving Akito, Jun. That was the bravest, most wonderful thing you could have done." Yurika said happily, opening her eyes. "Now let's go back to the hotel before it starts raining again."

Arms still firmly around him, she began the long trek back to the hotel where all the crewmen of the Nadesico had been put up. Jun was grateful that the streetlights were so dim she couldn't see him blush. It was something he had always imagined doing; strolling down a picturesque lane alone with her, just like this. Except that Jun's fantasies always ended a bit more wildly than this walk was going to. And yet...

And yet he found that he couldn't see the rest anymore. He didn't need the ending of his fantasy played out; in fact, he didn't want it to be. And he realized that he didn't want to be _the_ man in her life any more. He just wanted to be someone that she'd turn to like right now, when she was having problems or when she just needed to talk to someone or be with someone. He loved her best at moments like these, and he didn't need any other sort of relationship getting in the way of that. 

He caught himself before he got any more sentimental.

"So I hear Megumi's new movie hit number one at the box office this weekend..." he said, prompting Yurika's incessant, lively chatter.

******

Ruri's room was cold and empty when Harry stopped by to visit. Her bags had been neatly laid out on the floor next to the bed, where they remained untouched. Harry frowned. He'd been looking for her all day, and those suitcases hadn't moved since she first left them there that morning. Which meant she was probably on the Nadesico somewhere and wouldn't want to go eat with him. Which meant that the only person who would take him out to dinner was Saburota. 

Harry shuddered. He'd rather starve. 

"Ano..." a soft voice said from behind him. "I'm sorry to bother you," Lapis said when he turned around. "But I was wondering if you knew where Akito was?"

"Nope." Harry answered. "You haven't seen the Captain, have you?"

Lapis blinked. "No. Do you think they're together?"

"Who knows?" Harry shrugged nonchalantly. He didn't really like the thought of the Captain alone with that psychopath, but he wasn't going to tell Lapis what he thought of her father.

"I see." Lapis frowned, staring at the small card in her hand. "Akito left this in our room. Do you know what it is?"

"Are you telling me you've never seen a credit card before?!" Harry exclaimed, snatching the card from her limp fingers. "This is our ticket to freedom!"

"Were we being punished for something?"

"I consider no food a horrible punishment." Harry muttered, holding the card in his mouth while he dialed the hotel issue phone. "Room service?"

******

Ruri had long ago forgotten food and was, at the moment, frustrated beyond all measure.

_Troubleshoot_.she said for what seemed like the millionth time.

_Contents encrypted_.

Ruri sighed. First it had been "insufficient memory." She had had to uplink it to the Nadesicos A _and_ B before she could find enough memory to open these stupid little black boxes. Then it had been "insufficient space to run program." She'd had to have Omoikane help her clear out an area the size of a small building to get past _that_ obstacle. And on top of that, VR was making her queasy.

_Decipher contents._

_Unable to comply._

Ruri grit her teeth, sitting on the ground with the first box in her hand, seriously tempted just to crush it in her palm. It was _painful_ to have gone through that much for nothing, but she had run out of options.

Except for one.

_Omoikane, scan contents of file._ She had no clue whether it would work or not-- it was something she'd heard Harry mention in passing one day while he was tinkering with some of Seiya's old electronic equipment. He'd said that before bio-electrical systems with thinking mainframes and compatibility programs had been invented, you could look at the history of a file even if you couldn't open it. That was before IFS made all those systems obsolete, because in IFS you could open any file and so you didn't need to look at the history. But just because you didn't need to didn't mean you _couldn't_.

_Scan complete._

Bingo. Ruri gave one of her small smiles. She'd have to thank Harry for being so obsessed with the history of electronics later. _Show history._

_File type: Unknown._ Omoikane reported. _Last modified: Inapplicable. Date published: Inapplicable. Author: Tenkawa Yurika_. _Title: Hangar._

Ruri's eyes went wide and her smile slipped from her face. Yurika? Hangar? She dropped the box she was holding like it was diseased, only to snatch up another one almost immediately. 

_Scan contents and show history._

_File type: Unknown. Last modified: Inapplicable. Date published: Inapplicable. Author: Tenkawa Yurika/Ines Fresange. Title: Akito._

She didn't need to pick up the third box, but she did anyway, mouthing the words as Omoikane listed them. The result only further confirmed her suspicions. The weight of that discovery was staggering; she knew it was incredibly important but she didn't know exactly how to use it or why it was there in the first place. All she knew was that these files were records of all the boson jumps this ship had been involved in recently. She was willing to bet that if she searched hard enough, she could find the record of the first jump the Nadesico C ever made, before they knew that Ines was still alive. And that meant that somewhere in the Nadesico A's files there would be the record of the first successful boson jump ever made without the use of TC's; in short, the blueprints for boson jumping itself. 

As if the day hadn't been eventful enough.

******

"And you just opened the door and he was sitting here?" Erina asked skeptically, looking up from her notebook. She must have been up all night, the security officer decided. No one could possibly be this awake at this hour otherwise. The sun was just barely rising.

"Just like that, all tied up and knocking his head up against the wall trying to get away." the night guard replied, shrugging. Saburota cocked his head to the side and knelt down.

"Somebody trussed him up like a Sunday dinner and dropped him on our doorstep." he commented, poking the gagged, bound Yoshio a couple of times. "Does that mean he escaped?"

"There is a point where you have to stop asking a mute prisoner questions." Akatsuki remarked breezily. "Bring him inside and we'll get the whole story soon enough."

******

"Ruri..." Ines yawned. "Because you're the Captain, I'm not going to ask why you woke me up at four in the morning, or why you told me to get back on board this ship when I finally had three days away from chrome and plastic, or what you're even doing awake this early. It's not healthy for a teenager, especially when she's commanding a battleship to boot. I'm surprised you don't have ulcers, but I do believe you've lost your mind."

"I'm perfectly sane," Ruri replied in her straight-faced, matter-of-fact cheer.

"Let me get this straight." Ines rubbed her eyes and searched around vainly in the pockets of her lab coat for a caffeine pill. "You want me to play a _game_ with you? That doesn't make any sense to me, so one of us has to be crazy."

"I didn't say what kind of game it was." Ruri responded. "Please put the helmet on."

Ines did as she was told with no other complaints. Her curiosity was getting the better of her, and besides, even if Ruri had not woken her in the middle of the night she would have been awake right now anyway, working down in her lab. She might as well play Ruri's game, especially since she was getting a strong impression that it wasn't a game at all.

******

"And exactly why would this Akarui Tsukai tie you up and leave you here if he helped you escape in the first place?" Erina demanded.

"I wasn't tied up at first." Yoshio sighed. "But when we met up with Tenkawa all those two wanted to do was watch stupid anime. I hate old school robot shows."

Saburota grinned. "I take it you voiced that opinion?"

Yoshio sweatdropped. "I didn't think they'd take it so badly."

"And where are Tenkawa and Akarui now?" Akatsuki asked as Erina tried to shove Saburota out of the room.

"Probably in one of the video rooms downtown bawling like babies while they watch the same scene over and over again."

******

"Ruri, this is incredible."

"Only if we can find a program to open it." Ruri sat quietly to the side while Ines examined the black boxes. "And without Akatsuki or Erina finding out. We have to get this to the Joint Peacekeeping Forces as soon as possible; if Nergal or UE or the Successors or the old Jovian Union gets such a huge advantage over everyone else, the Jovian War could very well start all over again."

Ines waved a hand in Ruri's direction. "You work on that. I have a theory on how to open this file."

"How?"

"Well, you can't open it here, of course. To open something from the lost civilization's technology, you have to _use_ lost technology." Ines pulled up a window and began to copy the file into the VR network. "And I know one place to find some."

"The Martian ruins?" Ruri asked.

Ines nodded. "Right."

_File transfer complete._

"Stay out of trouble until I get back, okay? Ja ne!" 

"Wait-- will you jump there?"

"Of course. Don't worry, I won't go through any documented routes." She pulled a small blue object from her pocket, smiled, waved, and vanished.

Ruri frowned at the spot where Ines had once stood. She needed to find out when the next JF assembly met, but a much more interesting idea had taken root in her mind. She could use these little black boxes to find out what had happened to Akito. It was a disturbing thought, because she knew that if he had wanted to tell he would have told. He'd said once that it was best she didn't know what the Successors had done to him, and she had agreed. Yet something else had driven him away from his friends for over a year, and she had a feeling that the Artifact had a lot to do with it.

If it wasn't so distressing, she'd be amused. Was this what Yurika had meant by her intuition? She'd never put much stock in it before-- but Yurika had said that intuition never lied.

Then her brain forced her up to speed. The Eucharis had been destroyed and the Black Sarena had been wiped and upgraded; there was no way to check on Akito's boson jumps. Unless the Eucharis had a sister ship somewhere. Lapis would know.

******

"How do we know he's telling the truth?" Erina asked as she pulled Akatsuki aside. "He just gave in and told us everything; where Aritomo is headed, where they've sent the Artifact, everything. That seems kind of suspicious."

"Not at all." Akatsuki replied. "He did the same thing the first time we caught him."

Yoshio cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me?"

"What?"

"You're assuming that as a loyal Successor I wouldn't be telling you anything, right?"

"I'm not assuming anything." Akatsuki grinned. "But go on."

"The truth of the matter is, I'm not a Martian Successor. In fact, I hate Aritomo with a passion. I wish you would catch him. All I'm asking is that when you get the Artifact, you'll let me continue my research on it."

"You're really in no position to make requests." Erina informed him.

"Why the vested interest in the Artifact?" Akatsuki interrupted.

Yoshio looked down, took a deep breath, and began to lay on the angst. "I wasn't born on Mars. I can't be an A-class jumper, because I emigrated there when I was nineteen and wasn't there long enough for the nano-machines to affect me. But that doesn't mean that I don't have any connection to that planet. I was one of the miners present when the Artifact was discovered. I was a struggling philosopher at that time, working in the mines to put myself through college. When we unearthed the ruins something seemed to call to me, telling me that this was the answer that I had sought all my life. After that I devoted everything I had to studying the Artifact, trying to unlock its secrets. It didn't matter who was issuing my paycheck as long as I could work with the Artifact."

"Gee, that sounds almost noble." Saburota commented.

"Are you still here?" Erina shouted.

"So in short, you work for whoever has the Artifact." Akatsuki asked Yoshio.

"Yes. Will you untie me now?"

"No." Erina snapped.

"Then can you turn the light off? It's giving me a headache."

"This is an interrogation, you idiot." Erina called back over her shoulder, still trying vainly to push Saburota out the door. "None of this is for your comfort."

"I'm a _scientist,_ not a soldier." Yoshio protested. "I've told you everything I know; now will you please let me go or send me to jail or somewhere? My research is falling dreadfully behind."

"And what research would that be?" Erina asked cruelly. "Experimenting on people who didn't have a choice in the matter?"

"You're one to talk." Akatsuki muttered, still smiling. 

"I heard that." Erina glared at him. "All of my subjects were volunteers."

"Sure they were."

Saburota used the lapse in Erina's attention to slip back into the room unnoticed.

******

"Yurika! Meg and I are going to breakfast. Wanna come?" Minato peeked her head into the admiral's room. "My treat." Minato had spent the entire night debating whether or not to get drunk and, having decided in favor of sleep deprivation and gourmet espresso from the cafe in the hotel lounge, was completely wired.

Yurika waved her away from the bed, where she lay facing the wall. "I was up late."

"Oh, come on," Minato laughed. "You're acting like me."

Yurika's shoulders began to shake. She rolled over, giggling, to face the other woman. Minato struck what was intended to be a menacing pose, then grabbed Yurika's arm and pulled her from the bed. When she opened the admiral's top drawer and began flinging possible outfits at her, Yurika laughed harder. 

In fact, she laughed so hard she burst into tears.

_Uh oh_, Minato thought. Looked like she wasn't the only one who'd had a rough night. "Akito?"

Yurika dove back for the safety of her bed. Minato had to drag her up again. She was tempted to inform the younger woman that at least her husband was still alive, but figured that probably wasn't the best course of action. Instead, she sat Yurika down at her vanity and picked up her hairbrush, attacking the night tangles with a vengeance until Yurika's sobbing had subsided to sniffles.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. He's avoiding me." Yurika sniffed again, eyes filling once more.

Minato frowned. She'd been thinking about that lately, and she thought she knew an answer to help the miserable admiral feel better. She coughed meaningfully. "I don't think he's shunning you because he wants to, Captain." 

"What do you mean?" Yurika mumbled, confused but hopeful.

"Well, Ines said that Akito's memories and feelings were linked to Lapis's because the Successors wanted to see if they could control him through her and vice versa."

Yurika's eyes began to water. Minato sighed and flicked a hand through her hair. So much for making her feel better.

"So his feelings and memories are still shared with Lapis," she said slowly, trying to find words to put it delicately. "I think he wants to, um, spare her from... things... that she shouldn't be experiencing. Till she's older. And even then..."

Yurika's thoughts flashed back to when Lapis had fallen asleep on her lap, stroking her hair, and she turned bright red. "You don't think..."

"I think Akito's been very careful about what he lets her feel." Minato said gently, relieved that she didn't have to go into greater detail. "But he probably doesn't trust himself that much, especially around you."

A puzzled frown was brushing Yurika's features, but her arguments were half-hearted. She wanted to believe Minato desperately. "Maybe you're right. But if that was the only reason, wouldn't he have told me? There's got to be something else..."

"If there is, then you'll find out when he's ready to tell. You can't fall apart over something you can't help." She put the hairbrush down and turned the chair around so Yurika faced her. "All right?"

This time, the smile was completely genuine. "All right."


	10. Sleep Is For the Weak

PART NINE: Sleep is for the Weak

******

"A sister ship?" Lapis blinked sleepily, her toes blindly searching for her slippers as she motioned Ruri to sit and then settled formally on the edge of her bed. "It's called the _Hyacinth_, but I've never even seen it. I have no idea where it is right now. Why do you ask?" She kept her voice low so as not to disturb the occupant of the other bed-- a lump of a person completely covered with a blanket except for a wild patch of spiky hair sticking up from the pillow.

"I wanted to look through the virtual files-- it's for a theory Ines has been working on." It was not Ruri's style to lie, but for the sake of caution she didn't want to say anything more about her discovery than she had to. "It probably would have been in the _Eucharis_'s database but since the ship was destroyed I was hoping I could pull up the class's computer type."

"Computer type...?"

"Many ships of a certain class have the same computer program. Like Omoikane, who runs all the Nadesico class ships."

"Oh! you want to talk to Aiphis." Lapis said, standing up and quickly crossing the room.

"Aiphis?" Ruri prompted as Lapis began rifling through one of Akito's suitcases.

"It isn't as advanced as Omoikane and it didn't have a name, only a number-- Prototype 56317 v.4.2. When Akito first introduced us, he said it was the IFS machine. So I thought its name was Aiphis--IFS." Lapis blushed slightly at her silly mistake. "I know better now but the name sort of stuck."

Ruri watched as the younger girl straightened, brandishing an almost flat rectangular box. Years of cynicism and cool appraisal were all that kept her from snatching it from Lapis's arms. "A backup copy of a whole ship's computer?"

"Sort of." Lapis explained apologetically, opening the laptop and logging on. "Akito's Aestivallis was never compatible with the _Eucharis_ because it was redesigned to be a completely autonomous unit. But I was always on the _Eucharis_ when he needed my help and so we needed a way to connect the two. We did it by downloading Aiphis into the Black Sarena and uplinking it to the Eucharis with Akito's laptop. So Aiphis should still be in here somewhere if you want to talk to it."

She placed the computer in Ruri's lap. Ruri's hands began to glow in the familiar pattern as she logged herself in.

_Welcome, Lapis Lazuli_. the screen came up. Ruri frowned and tried logging in again. The same thing happened.

"Try logging out first." Lapis suggested shyly, which Ruri did. But when she logged back in Aiphis still addressed her as Lapis.

"Must be a glitch or something," Lapis explained. "I'm really the only one who uses this so maybe it's stuck and I just never noticed."

Ruri gave up and started to search through the VR files. It was harder than she had originally expected, since she couldn't actually go into VR and look for a little black box on a laptop. She didn't have the freedom of movement a search this extensive would normally call for.

To break the weird silence, Lapis began to ask questions; just a few at first, to try to fathom Ruri's motives, and then more as her curiosity refused to be satiated. Ruri found herself telling Lapis the entire story in bits and pieces without any reservations, almost as if she were talking to herself. It was unnerving, but she'd been surprised enough for one day. One of the drawbacks of being brilliant, she decided, was that she hated the idea that unexpected things like this could happen and seriously screw her plans for the future.

Whatever happened to that little girl who couldn't be fazed, even by the idiotic adults that surrounded her?

_Baka_, her mind replied nastily. _She grew up._

******

"Well, I'd love to finish our conversation, but I have a meeting with the board members now," Akatsuki said offhand, making his way towards the door. "Don't go making any important discoveries until I get back."

"Will you untie me now?" Yoshio protested, but Akatsuki had already left, Erina hot on his heels. Yoshio sighed and sat back in disappointment, noticing as he did so a long shadow off to his side. Raising his head, he found himself staring at a very tall, grinning Jovian. The wickedly pleased look on his face made Yoshio cringe in fear.

******

"_What the hell do you mean?!"_ Aritomo thundered, causing all activity in the Center to come to a screeching halt. The young man who bore the brunt of Aritomo's fury quailed under the leader's withering gaze and backed up a couple of steps.

"Sir, I'm sorry, sir, but none of us has as many years experience tucked under our belts as Mr. Yamasaki did; we're all here trying to finish up our degrees..."

"Yamasaki Yoshio was not the only person who ever worked on the Artifact!" Aritomo snapped. "Are you telling me that _everyone_ on your team is a graduate student? What the hell happened to all those musty old professors who insisted they could unravel the secrets of boson jumping?"

"Um, with all due respect, sir," Miki cut in, "We had them all killed."

Aritomo put his head in his hands in a gesture of defeat. "Can we get the Artifact operational in time?"

"Well," the young man began. "I don't see why not, as long as we can find someone to be the Imaging System. Right now our options are kind of slim, considering most of the original A-class jumpers died in the early experiments."

Aritomo dropped his hands, a determined light flashing in his eyes. "We'll get one."

******

"Come on, come on...." Ryoko urged the screen, pounding on the controller like her life depended on it. "Damn! I think my punch key is busted!"

"I wouldn't be surprised." Hikaru smiled, sipping at her coffee as her player pummeled Ryoko's for the umpteenth time. 

"I'm serious!" Ryoko protested, running her card through the slot again. "My damn controller's broken."

"Ryoko, you're just really bad at video games." Hikaru laughed. "We don't have to play anymore..."

"You're just scared that I'll beat you." Ryoko returned, choosing yet another new player. Hikaru sighed and switched her latte to her left hand to play again.

******

"There are so many of them..." Lapis breathed in awe. "And they were all hidden away in our files? Why didn't they take up any memory?"

"Because these aren't the actual files-- they're just the way to open the file." Ruri answered distractedly. There were three thousand four hundred and ninety six of the boson jump files stored in the cache she had opened. Three _thousand_. How was she going to get through them all? _Start at the beginning, that's how_. 

She began to run the files through her own laptop so Omoikane could process them and display the file histories. With any luck, what she was looking for would be in the beginning somewhere.

"Ano..." Lapis leaned in closer. "They all look the same."

Ruri blinked twice. "Doomsday." she said aloud. "They're all titled 'Doomsday.'"

"What's 'Doomsday?'"

"An English term used to describe the end of the world; after space colonization began, it grew to encompass the end of the entire universe."

Lapis resisted the urge to say "I knew _that."_ She didn't want to insult Hoshino Ruri. "But I don't think Akito could have hidden it from me if he saw the actual end of the universe."

Ruri turned on her suddenly. "You can read Akito's mind?" she demanded; even though the tone of voice never changed from the detached soft-spoken voice typical of Ruri, the demand was clear. Lapis shook her head.

"It's not like that-- not telepathy. I can't ever really tell what he's thinking. But I'm in charge of his subconscious; if he saw Doomsday wouldn't it show up in his dreams?"

"You see Akito's dreams?"

"No, I dream for him. Dreams are essential to boson jumping; the Successors wanted to start a network of jumpers to make boson travel easier, faster, and more efficient. But the project failed, because when they linked Akito and me, we became useless individually."

Ruri set the laptop on the bed, black boxes momentarily forgotten.

"You can't boson jump by yourself?"

"No. I've never had a dream of my own-- without Akito's memories, I wouldn't be able to visualize a jump. And Akito can no longer visualize for himself because all images are automatically transferred to me."

"So you can't communicate _with_ each other, you just build off each other." Ruri closed her eyes thoughtfully, remembering her first encounter with Lapis. "But you said you were Akito's eyes and ears..."

"Yes." Lapis stared at Ruri blankly, as if that should make perfect sense. Ruri opened her eyes.

"I don't really understand. Will you explain it?"

Lapis frowned. "I don't know how to explain. It's like...well, if Akito is eating some really good soba, I get a good taste in my mouth. If he's listening to music, I can feel the beat."

"So if I blindfolded Akito," she gestured to the other bed, "Would you be unable to see?"

"I wouldn't be blind, but I would feel the same disorientation as Akito would feel."

Ruri realized that Lapis had no idea that if Akito was eating some really good soba, he wouldn't know what it tasted like at all. Lapis wasn't aware that she didn't just feel what Akito felt, but robbed him of those sensations.

"And by the way, that's not Akito, that's Harry." Lapis added, glancing back at the bed. Ruri's eyes widened; strangely, she felt her cheeks getting hot. "Yurika didn't come to read me a story last night, so Harry said he'd stay until I fell asleep. I guess he fell asleep, too."

Ruri closed her mouth as soon as she realized it was open and turned back to the laptop. "I want to take these down to Ines's lab now so she can look at them as soon as she gets back."

"Wait, I want to come with you." Lapis said. "If that's all right."

Ruri nodded and handed her Akito's laptop. She debated waking Harry up, but figured he'd probably demand an explanation and she didn't want to take the time to give him one. She settled for letting Lapis write him a note.

******

"Hikaru and Ryoko are here..." Yurika remarked as the three women slung their purses over into the booth and sat simultaneously. Minato laughed uncomfortably.

"That probably means Izumi will be playing in the coffeehouse later on."

Megumi grimaced. "I can hardly wait."

******

In the shadows of an alley on the other side of the tracks, six dark silhouettes melted together briefly and then separated once more.

******

"So the secret to the Genkigangar program wasn't created by any ancient alien civilization?" Tsukai asked excitedly. Akito nodded, rewinding the tape to watch the snippet again.

"It's a side story that was never fleshed out." he explained as he hit the play button.

_"I used the Gekiganium alloy to try to determine exactly when these paintings were made,"_ the badly acted, melodramatic voice of the doctor began_. "But the Gekiganium-dating technique doesn't place these paintings in the past-- they're from 300 years in the future!" _

"There's so much more to this anime than I ever understood!" Tsukai beamed, picking up the mangas that Akito had brought. "I can understand why this was my brother's favorite. All the elements of greatness are here: heroism, love, justice, good over evil...the artwork is beautifully rendered..."

Akito smiled patiently. He saw himself in the younger man. Well, actually, he saw Gai, but that was because they were brothers, after all. As he watched the pilot's animated face as he drank in each picture in the manga, he felt a wave of nostalgia for that past he had relinquished. He didn't want to destroy Tsukai's illusions, but illusion could quickly degenerate into delusion if he wasn't careful. It was that kind of mistake that started the Jovian War. "It has its bad points, too." he said carefully. "When I was younger, I loved the show so much that I only watched my favorite parts. Then, when a friend of mine was murdered, I decided that I was wrong. I had to take the good with the bad or nothing at all."

"It has to be good, or my big brother would never have liked it." Tsukai said stubbornly. Akito sat back, returning his attention to the movie screen.

"But then I realized something." he continued. "Parts of this show are truly great. They define everything that I ever valued. And while I couldn't pretend the bad parts weren't there, I could focus on the good parts, and let them define me like they always had."

Tsukai closed the manga purposefully, his face set in serious contemplation. "I understand why you were my brother's best friend." he declared. "Only you see the world as he did." He began to tear at the corners of his eyes. "You honor his memory!"

This time the smile was wholehearted. "Thank you."

"Your devotion is truly inspiring. You are a hero straight out of the pages of this wonderful manga!"

_But you're a hero now, just like in Gekigangar._ Yurika's voice floated through his mind unbidden, _Isn't that what you wanted?_

Akito's eyes widened. He turned around to look out the window, and gazed in horror at the morning sun, already high in the sky. "I have to go." he said, barely pulling himself to his feet before he started to run.

"Wait!" Tsukai, startled and dismayed to find his reverie broken, also rose. "Where are you going?"

"To be a hero!" Akito murmured bitterly as he flew out the door. He had said it too softly for Tsukai to have heard, but perhaps that telepathy thing kicked in, because Tsukai understood anyway, somehow.

"Wait for me! I'm coming with you!"

******

"And the son of the sun is the morning....and mourning when the son dies..." Izumi sang, strumming her ukulele. Most of the occupants of the coffeehouse busied themselves ignoring her. Many, like Yurika, Megumi, and Minato, had learned to block out Izumi as background noise when necessary. The not so fortunate had crowded around the arcade, which happened to be as far from the speakers as possible. The fuss at the Old School One-on-One Battle Arena soon sparked their attention.

"Hey, old lady, you already lost!" a whiny little boy was tugging Ryoko's sleeve. "It's _my_ turn now!"

"_Old lady?!?!"_ Ryoko shouted, turning on the kid just as Hikaru's player Sugar-Heart Attacked her to a KO. "Aw, dammit! No fair-- one more try!"

"Hey _lady...!_"

"Shut up, kid. Don't you have to go to school or something?" Ryoko picked up the controller and started pounding at it again.

"Ten bucks on the brunette!" someone called.

Ryoko got KOed again.

"Make that twenty!"

"I got thirty on the kid!"

"Well, if we're going to start gambling..." Hikaru began, smiling, "If I win this time you have to dye your hair green again, Ryoko, okay? And if _you_ win, I'll dye mine."

"What? No! Didn't you and Izumi have enough the first time?"

"Well, if you're afraid..."

Ryoko stopped dead, sat back down, and picked up the controller. "Bring it on."

******

"Stop," one shadow whispered to the other five. 

"Yamasaki Yoshio?" another shadow asked.

"Should we get him?"

"He doesn't seem to be in any danger."

"But he's walking with one of _them_."

"Has he betrayed us?"

"Let him go," the first shadow said. "We have no orders concerning him. Our mission must be completed. Move!" the shadows separated once more.

******

"I thought we were going out for coffee." Yoshio said, rather desperately, as he and Saburota walked down the sidewalk. 

"We are."

"We just passed two perfectly good _kissaten_ and a Starbucks." 

"We're going to my favorite hangout." Saburota said cheerfully. "Most of the pilots spend their breaks there."

Yoshio blanched. He doubted the sanity of anyone who would willingly pilot an Aestivallis. And if they were friends of Saburota's.... Yoshio had been terrified of the Jovian since the day they'd met, when Genpachiro had declared a truce with the UE government. Saburota had singled him out at the reception-- why, he'd never been able to figure out-- to be his drinking buddy. Yoshio had ended up in jail for two days with a major fine to pay and the Jovian "eternally in his debt." Which meant that Saburota bought him drinks whenever they met up. He'd thought he'd gotten away from his new "best friend" when he began his research under Kusakabe, but it was obvious that the gods of irony hated him.

Saburota finally stopped outside what seemed to be a perfectly normal coffeehouse. On the outside. Inside, there was strange music and a huge clump of people crowded around what Yoshio could only guess was a fight of some sort. And Saburota, of course, wouldn't be satisfied until he could not only find out what mayhem was happening, but join the fun.

[*note* _Kissaten_ is Japanese for coffeehouse. I just got tired of using "coffeehouse" and "coffee shop" over and over.]

******

"Hah!" Ryoko shouted triumphantly. "I've got you now!"

"You hit me!" Hikaru said in astonishment. She put down her latte and began to concentrate more on the game. The crowd around them was placing bets and shouting encouragement splattered with some derogatory propositions to the two pilots. Ryoko was hunched over in her seat, focusing all her attention on the little pixilated robot on the screen. This time, Gekigangar was going to beat that stupid fairy.

"Hey, buddy, watch it!"

"What's the big idea?"

"Excuse him, he's crazy," a tired voice apologized somewhere in the background.

"You know, Hikaru, just to be nice, I'll buy the green dye for you," Ryoko smiled, "I just figured out the special attack combo!"

Hikaru didn't answer-- she was busy dodging. Ryoko began to laugh. All she had to do was keep churning out the combos and Hikaru would never have a chance to recover. Her victory was assured. 

"Whatcha doing?" A voice asked, so close to her ear that she felt the breath on her neck.

"Gah!" Arms, controller, and forgotten espresso all went flying.

"Pink Cotton Candy Attack!" Hikaru cried, and Gekigangar went down for the count.

"Dammit!" Ryoko shouted. She turned to face Saburota practically breathing fire. "This... is... all_... your_... _fault..."_

Saburota frowned. "How's it my fault? You're the one who sucks at video games."

"_Ahhhh!"_ She launched herself at the blond Jovian, determined to pummel his idiotic smirk into next week.

"Ten bucks on the crazy chick!"

******

"Ship?" 

"Not there."

"Hotel?"

"Empty."

The leader frowned. Where were the targets? The search of all the likely places had turned up negative. And they could not jump without blowing their cover-- it was getting tedious.

"Sir," the newest member emerged from the shadows, "There's two places we might check."

"Where?"

"One is a restaurant owned by an old crew member. The other is a _kissaten_ run by Nergal. It's supposed to be a popular hangout."

The six shadowy figures exchanged glances, then slipped out of the alley down the street.

******

"Yurika!" Akito couldn't help but cry out as he threw open the doors of the coffee shop. Thirty plus people all turned away from Ryoko and Saburota's wrestling match to see what new psychos the morning had brought. Akito looked around in confusion-- nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. He'd expected screaming and at least a few hysterics.

"Akito?" Yurika's blue-haired head shot up from a booth a little ways down. Seeing his desperate expression, she took it to mean he was concerned about her. "Akito!" she exclaimed happily, launching herself at him. Akito didn't move to stop her, preoccupied by the thought that the Sixsome weren't there. If the clock on the wall was correct, he should have been too late. But even as he thought it, he felt a familiar presence at his back and turned slightly, still holding Yurika by the shoulders.

"I knew you'd come back to me eventually, if I gave you enough time! I don't know why you did it, but you can tell me later! I forgive you for whatever it was, and I hope you can forgive me for not being more supportive of you when you needed me to--Akito?!"

Akito shoved her behind him, holding out his arm protectively as six shadows seemed to melt into human beings, arranged in a triangular pattern, just outside the door.

"Akito..." Yurika's voice wavered and she clutched at his outstretched arm in fright. "What are they doing here?"

"_You!" _Minato yelled shrilly, she and Megumi also standing.

Ryoko and Saburota stopped shouting at each other and turned to face the new threat, ahead of them. 

"Tenkawa Akito," the leader of the shadows said smugly. "We meet again."

"Hokushin is dead." Akito said coldly. "You should have disbanded."

"The New Order doesn't disband when a leader is assassinated."

Akito drew two revolvers out from the folds of his cloak. "Maybe you didn't understand me. You should have disbanded before; now I'll do it for you."

"Sugoi!" Hikaru piped up in the background, pulling a notebook out of somewhere. "Great line, Akito-san!"

The new leader of the Sixsome smiled cruelly. "Guns, against us? Nergal isn't here to back you up this time."

The Six shadows each drew a particularly nasty looking weapon. Akito snarled and prepared for a fight, waiting for Ryoko and Saburota. They appeared at his side momentarily, Saburota cracking his knuckles with a gleeful expression plastered to his face. Hikaru was darting ecstatically about, making quick sketches for the doujinshi that was already way past the deadline. All except the most oblivious of the coffeehouse patrons were making their way quietly out the back door.

"Hokushin prophesied this day would come," the leader said. "Tenkawa Akito, you will meet your doom at the hands of the Sixsome!"

"Sixsome, eh?" Saburota commented. "I've heard of you. You're the Successor Secret Police force. You don't look all that scary."

"Not scary? We walk the line between heresy and madness, all for a New Order. We don't fear death, we don't respect the lives of our enemies..."

"The New Order isn't yours for the taking." Akito said quietly. Yurika took a few steps backwards, opening her mouth as if to say something, but Tsukai beat her to it.

"That's...*huff*... ridiculous!" he gasped, placing the box of Gekigangar stuff he had lugged through town neatly to the side and struck his "avenging angel" pose. "The end never justifies the means! People like you don't belong in a New Order of peace and Gekigangar!" 

"Sugoi, sugoi!" Hikaru cried, jumping up and down while trying to write frantically in her notebook.

The Sixsome quickly rearranged themselves in a circle to face Tsukai, Akito, Saburota and Ryoko. The leader faced Akito squarely.

"You know why we're here."

Akito's dark glasses hid his eyes, but his face began to glow slightly. Yurika took a moment to realize that he hadn't been glowing as much as he used to. "Yes."

"Very well, then." he smiled cruelly. "It doesn't matter, either way. Perhaps we'll just take you."

Akito snarled. "You can try."

"Akito..." Yurika whispered. She wanted to move closer, but her feet seemed frozen in place. 

"Let's end this, Tenkawa Akito."

******

Akito didn't answer. Instead, he raised his gun and opened fire. Between the cracking of pistol shots and the screaming of some of the denser coffeehouse patrons fleeing for their lives, the leader's laughter could be heard. 

"You've learned _nothing_," he spat as Akito tossed the first gun away and lifted the second. "Guns can't harm us." Akito smiled briefly, a disturbing sight for those who saw it before it disappeared. He hadn't been trying to kill anyone, just test the weak spots in their shielding. This man was not a worthy replacement for Hokushin. 

By now the entire crew of the Nadesico present had assembled themselves in a tight cluster behind Yurika, while Saburota and Ryoko began to inch forward, not wanting the other one to get ahead. The leader and Akito remained unmoving, Akito's gun trained directly at the man's head. 

Yoshio, who had until that moment been sitting quietly in the shadows trying to figure out if he could get out the back door without getting trampled, stood up suddenly. 

"Are you insane?" he asked the leader of the Sixsome. "You can't take the A-class jumpers."

"Traitor!" one of the other members of the Sixsome spoke up angrily. Yoshio shook his head. Akito's eyebrows drew together in desperate confusion. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go. And then he realized that Yoshio shouldn't have been there at all. Something had gone drastically wrong.

"They're not going to let themselves be taken alive, you fools." With hands up, trembling and obviously committing the bravest act of his lifetime, Yoshio began to move forward slowly, trying to keep the leader's attention off of Akito and Yurika.

The leader grinned, changing positions slightly. "Then they'll be taken dead."

And Akito suddenly understood what he was doing-- he was going to use Yoshio as a shield so he could jump without Akito getting in the way, taking both Yurika and Yoshio with him. 

"I don't think so." Ryoko snapped. "We're going to kick your sorry asses straight to jail!"

"Do not pass Go, do not collect your fried rice," Izumi murmured.

Akito fired two shots, straight upward. The lights overhead shattered, pouring glass and plaster down on the people below. It took everyone by surprise, including the Sixsome, who were directly under one of the lamps and had to cover their heads to avoid the rain of glass. Akito didn't hesitate. He turned and lunged at Yurika, jumping almost before he reached her.

******

"Ines-san..." Ruri began, surprised. She hadn't expected the woman to be back from Mars so soon. Lapis pulled up short behind the Captain and fixed Ines with an identically blank stare. Ines looked up from the console in the dim light of her laboratory, dark glasses perched casually in her hair.

"Ruri-chan," the older woman acknowledged a little too brightly, "Lapis. Come in-- you've saved me the trouble of going to find you."

"Have you succeeded already?" Ruri asked as she approached.

"Already?" Ines laughed; a brittle, nervous sound. "No-- I've been on Mars for weeks now. But my findings have been so incredible that I returned to the second I left so as not to waste any time."

"What did you discover?" Ruri asked, opening the laptop absently and deciding not to go into the paradox of time travel again.

"You were right-- the files were the schematics for a boson jump. But the reason we couldn't open them was not because our technologies were incompatible, as we originally thought. It was because the boson jump files work on a 256-bit system. Our present system works on only 128-bit codes. I had to decipher the additional 128 symbols and convert the computer language back down to its binary form before I could open it."

"So is our entire system a copy of the same ancient technology that created the Artifact?" Lapis asked, glancing over Ruri's shoulder as the latter tapped thoughtfully at the keys.

"It could be," Ines affirmed, "But doesn't it strike you as odd that the ancient civilization works with the same basic bytes that we do? A _bit_ is either a one or a zero, on or off like a light switch. I wouldn't be surprised if every civilization ever in the history of the universe utilized that same principle. But we humans are unique in that we chose to organize those on or off bits into 8-digit _bytes_. Then we doubled that number whenever we needed more space. 8, 16, 32, 64, 128..."

"256," Ruri murmured. Lapis's eyes widened.

"But the original 8-bits were used in each byte because that was how many bytes were needed to process all the symbols in the _American_ alphabet and number systems. An ancient civilization wouldn't be using the American alphabet, they would be using their own. To them, eight would simply be a random number. So why do both of our civilizations follow a system that uses multiples of eight?"

"Whoever built the first computers on Earth must have been using the lost civilization's technology." Ruri concluded.

"There is one other theory," Ines said excitedly, standing. "I wanted to announce it to everyone, but this is a volatile situation and I can't take that risk until I can get my findings to the JF council. I don't think we were copying the lost civilization at all." Here she paused for dramatic effect. "I think _they_ were copying _us."_

Lapis stiffened. "But how...?"

"It's just circumstantial evidence, but I think I'm right. When I was sent back to ancient Mars as a little girl, I met the people who had created the Artifact. I knew they were human-like, meaning they had two legs, two arms, a head and were about as tall as human beings. I didn't think they were human because their skin was hard and shiny and they had wires connected to them everywhere. Only in the past few weeks have I truly thought hard about those creatures; as a little girl I wouldn't have known this, but those 'creatures' looked very much like I myself do when I'm suited up and guiding a boson jump. In short, I think the people who created the Artifact were indeed human and were using an advanced form of boson jump technology."

"But I thought you were sent to the past, Ms. Fresange." Lapis said in puzzlement. "Do you mean you actually went to the future?"

"I don't know what time period I went to," Ines admitted. "I have several theories that I need to test. But I'm positive that those people knew of my coming and were expecting me. It was no accident that sent me twenty years into the past. I think the people of that time knew exactly what year I had to return to Mars, so that I would be old enough to unravel the secrets of boson jumping in time to help you."

"Help us?" Lapis frowned. "With what?"

Ines looked at her, her scrutinizing gaze so intense it was almost a glare. Lapis shrank away self-consciously.

"I would have stayed longer on Mars if I could have, but two weeks from now something catastrophic happened. I don't know exactly what it was, but... To put it bluntly," Ines said finally, "The world is about to go to hell."

"Doomsday," Ruri said, eyes fixed vacantly on a spot somewhere past the screen in front of her. She moved her hand across the surface of the laptop one last time, and the list of Akito's boson jumps began to run down Ines's terminal as the blonde woman's eyes widened in shock.


	11. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Akito

PART TEN: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Akito

Akito's momentum continued even after they boson jumped, toppling them both backwards and to the ground. Yurika looked around at her surroundings; she took exactly two seconds to note that it figured he'd jump to the Nadesico A's kitchen before tightening her grip around his waist.

"I knew you'd come back, Akito!" she repeated, "I knew you didn't mean it when you said you were leaving! I understand about Lapis so you don't have to worry anymore..."

Akito detached himself gently and got to his feet. "You _don't_ understand, Yurika." he said, moving towards the door.

"Oh, I understand, and I just want you to know that whatever it is, I'll wait until you're ready to tell me. You should know by now that I'll always wait for you, Akito!"

Akito stopped and turned around, staring at her quietly. What could he do with someone so completely dense? His feet seemed to know, because they moved him forward until he was standing over her. Then he bent forward on one knee and kissed her, cursing himself the entire time. None of this was going according to plan. Immediately, he remembered why he's stopped keeping up with a Day Planner.

He couldn't isolate himself from her now-- not with the Sixsome still at large. In all his futures, he'd killed at least two of them, putting them and their leader out of commission long enough to stop the Doomsday plan. But this time, Yoshio had interfered. Yoshio, who shouldn't have been there in the first place. He didn't know what it meant, but he wouldn't allow himself to think that anything else had changed. He hadn't wanted the certainty of knowing the future, but when it had been given to him he'd become remarkably reluctant to give that knowledge up. He was playing with people's lives and he wanted to be sure about what he was doing. He didn't want any more mistakes, like with Ai.

But by not fighting the Sixsome, he'd cemented the fact that all six of them would be around to try again. Until he could stop them permanently, he couldn't leave Yurika, or Ines for that matter, alone. But would he be able to stand being with her and not being honest with her?

He didn't know; and the only consolation he could think of as he took her hand to help her to her feet was that he didn't have a choice.

"Come on," he said, voice husky and flat, "We have to get out of here."

******

Ryoko was the first to notice that Akito was gone. She was also the first to notice, after her initial outcry, that Yurika was gone as well. She couldn't have explained what she felt then: betrayal, resignation... bitter anger as she realized that he'd deserted them and left them to take care of the Sixsome alone.

But another part of her rebelled from that-- Akito must know things the rest of them didn't, or he would never have left. That wasn't the type of person he was.

The middle-aged guy from before backed into her, trying to distance himself from the leader. Ryoko opened her mouth to yell at him, but his nerves already seemed shot and so she surprised herself by remaining silent. The Sixsome began to close in on him, but he drew himself up and defied them with more vehemence than she had expected.

"You really have no idea why I'm here, do you?" he demanded, and his tone was so commanding that the Sixsome stopped in apparent confusion. 

Yoshio was taking a huge risk; he was making the gamble that the Sixsome's orders were only concerning the A-class jumpers and contained nothing about him. He was aware that he might very well be tossing out his only chance to finish his research on the Artifact, but enough was enough. He had to place his bets one way or another or he'd never get anything done. "Our leader is going to punish you for ruining my operation," he growled, and the fact that this was so unlike him made the rather pathetic attempt to sound dangerous more believable. "Getting the jumpers in full daylight in a public place is something Hokushin would have laughed down as idiocy. You shame him."

The leader scowled, baring his teeth, but Yoshio was finished.

"Go!" Not understanding where this adrenaline was coming from, he turned his back on the six (armed!) men and walked back to his booth in the cafe. "There is nothing for you here." he announced over his shoulder.

The leader hissed, then stepped back. "Jump," he said to his men, and they vanished.

******

Tsukai considered the situation and decided that now was not the time for any more speeches, seeing as his audience had disbanded. Instead, he turned to the chirpy brunette who was crouching against his box of Gekigangar stuff.

"Wow!" Hikaru was saying, "You have almost as much Gekigangar manga as Akito!"

"That's mostly Akito's stuff." 

Hikaru stood up. "Really? I thought he had given up on Geki. Ever since..." she paused, not knowing how to continue. Depressing stuff just really wasn't her forte.

"You can never give up on a way of life for very long."

"That's good!" Hikaru said, whipping out her pen again. "You've got some great one-liners. What's your name, by the way, so I can make a dedication to you in my next doujinshi? You don't mind if I use your lines, do you?"

"Akarui Tsukai!" Tsukai struck his pose, but Hikaru ruined it by grabbing his hand and tugging him off down the street. He barely had time to grab the box and stuff it under his left arm.

"Hey, weren't you that pilot we were fighting before? How'd you get involved with the Successors anyway? You don't seem like the type who wants universal domination so it must be a personal vendetta of some sort..."

******

Saburota surveyed the wreckage of the coffeehouse and decided all in all that it wasn't a bad days' work. Plus there was still time to go to a video room and to call some of his girlfriends before he hit the clubs that evening. Speaking of clubs...

"Yoshio, my friend!" the blond Jovian declared, patting the shaking man on the back, "I didn't know you had it in you!" 

Yoshio fainted.

******

"And don't come back until you can bring me the jumpers!" Aritomo shouted to the retreating figures, glaring at their backs until even their shadows disappeared. Then he sat down heavily and stared at the calendar at the corner of his desk. There was a big red box replacing a date, the letters "N-O" written angrily in black across it. 11 days away. They had eleven days get everything ready down to the last detail. And even the Sixsome seemed hopelessly incompetent at this point.

Though something the leader had said had made him stop and think. Tenkawa had known they'd needed the A-class jumpers. And he'd known to protect Misumaru Yurika. How? It was as if he'd known the future. Tenkawa Akito was incapable of running the Artifact; the only reason his capture had been called for was so he couldn't go around rescuing any more people. But perhaps he could be more useful...

******

Ines, Ruri, and Lapis sat in silence, each looking at their hands and not each other. Ines had managed to open the jump files, but in some way all three wished that she hadn't.

Every file they checked so far-- the first 114-- was a schematic for a boson jump 11 days into the future. They were almost identical, except for a few minute details in the coding that Ines didn't know how to decipher. Ines explained that programmers often put notes somewhere in the program to explain their function. In the case of the Artifact, the notes were at the end, and apparently pulled directly from Akito's mind. They all followed the same format. It listed a cryptic event, such as "Friendly Fire," "KO Base," or "Follow the Leader," followed by a list of names. Ruri was often listed, as was most of the crew of the Nadesico. Following the names in each file was one word: _deceased._

"What do we do?" Lapis asked finally, as Ines flipped blankly through another file. 

"We confront Akito." the blond said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"No," Lapis countered. "He won't tell us anything. He's afraid to. He's afraid for our safety."

Ruri looked up at her, wondering how long Lapis had known about Akito's fears. Known but hadn't guessed what he was afraid _of_.

"We have to let him know that _we_ know." she explained to the younger girl. "If he's so afraid for our safety, he should stop trying to handle everything by himself. He's obviously taken great care to hide this from you as well."

Lapis ducked her head and said nothing.

"That does raise an interesting question," Ines commented. "How exactly _did_ he keep all this a secret from you, Lapis? If you can read each other's thoughts..."

Ruri interrupted before Lapis had to. "It doesn't work that way. She only sees what he dreams, not what he thinks."

Ines looked shocked. "Really? I wasn't aware..."

"It's okay," Lapis blushed. "No one really knew how connected Akito and I are."

"Hmm..." Ines got that scrutinizing look again, and Lapis was almost positive she could see the gears in the woman's head turning.

"But..." Lapis stuttered in embarrassment, "We can't just do nothing..."

"We need to inform the military so they can be ready." Ruri remarked matter-of-factly. "We'll have to make a proposal to the JF council."

Ines sighed. "Then I suppose one of us will have to tell the crew."

"No!" Lapis said again, her head snapping up vehemently. "Let me talk to Akito. _He_ should tell Yurika what's happening, not us."

Ines smiled kindly. "If it comes to that, Akito should be telling _everyone_ himself. He's the one who's been holding it inside him for so long. There's been a breach of trust. It should be up to him to fix it."

Lapis nodded. "I'll talk to him. I want to help."

Ruri frowned slightly. That gave her an idea.

******

"This bites!" Atkins, the helmsman, complained. "It's not _our_ fault all the chulips in this area were disabled."

Araragi, though he whole-heartedly agreed with the young officer, was busy being the diplomat. "It seems rather abrupt to call a battleship out of Mars space to a battle on Earth and then to send it back without doing anything."

"I apologize for the inconvenience," Admiral Fukube said kindly, "I'm aware that you had trouble getting here with all the chulips shut off, but the fact remains that the battle is over and we have no need of assistance from the _Lilac_. We thank you for your willingness to help, but it won't be necessary."

The admiral's window disappeared, promptly replaced by the automated docking monitor. "This ship is cleared for immediate departure." it chirped brightly.

"That's it, then," Araragi sighed. "Take us out, Atkins."

"If you'll please proceed to Hangar Three...."

"Just a moment, please," Ruri's face popped up and then disappeared again.

"The _Lilac_ is cleared to--" the voice blipped and changed messages. "The _Lilac_ is cleared to land at Pad 23. Please stand by." Araragi smiled brilliantly. She'd remembered them after all. 

******

Minato must have opened and closed her mouth again without saying a word at least six or seven times by now. She wanted desperately to know what was going on and just as desperately wanted to forget the whole thing. The last time something like this had happened... she didn't want to think about it.

"You want to go shopping?" she blurted out suddenly, causing Megumi to snap out of her own reverie.

"What? Oh," the shorter woman frowned apologetically. "I can't, Minato, I'm going to lunch with Aiden in an hour. In fact, I should probably go start getting ready now."

"Oh," Minato echoed, "Well, all right then. I'll walk you back to the hotel, okay?"

As they changed directions, walking away from the shopping district and past the street where the coffee shop stood in silent mockery of her confusion, Minato shuddered. She knew only one person besides Akito who would explain what the Sixsome were doing, but she wasn't in a hurry to go see him.

******

"So you're going to put Lapis on the Lilac and send her off to the JF Council?" Ines asked Ruri after the latter finished changing the ship's flight plan.

"It's the best way," Ruri said, staring distractedly off towards the hallway which Lapis had disappeared down. "No one really knows that Akito is back, so we can send Lapis to the JF Council under the pretense of a debriefing and transmit our findings that way. If you or I were to go, our presence on the Lilac would be noticed and questioned. But Lapis is free to go where she chooses."

"Hmm," Ines said, scrolling down Akito's file list.

"Ms. Fressange..." Ruri began, "Just what happened in the future?"

Ines smiled grimly. "I heard over the radio link about several Successor attacks. The people down in the ruins with me were all evacuated. There was a call for all battleships to the moon. Then a series of earthquakes on Mars and several failed major boson jump attempts. After that, I don't really know. There were explosions and a lot of screaming. I couldn't seem to leave the ruins, probably because the me of that time was wandering around somewhere. The whole city began to glow, until the ruins began to look like Tokyo. And then..." she shrugged. "I ended up back here. Didn't really have a choice in the matter."

She left out one important detail, because she knew from reading classical literature that trying to dodge your fate often leads to bringing that fate to pass. Just before all the warships were called to the moon, one message had broken through the static and sliced clearly through the line, and through her. _The Nadesico has been destroyed. All escape pods ruptured during the resulting explosion._

After a moment of silence in which it became clear Ines would not say anything else on the matter, Ruri got up to leave. She was planning to make arrangements for Lapis's passage on the _Lilac_, but first she needed to prepare something in the way of an official document to give Colonel Araragi. 

******

Lapis wondered along the halls of the Nadesico, wondering if it had been wrong to lie to Ruri. It seemed almost strange that both Ruri and Ines, as brilliant as they were, would buy something so far-fetched. She and Akito could not communicate telepathically, no, but she wasn't limited to just seeing his dreams, which were often jumbled and indecipherable anyway. Her entire knowledge of the universe came from Akito's memories, which were also her own.

She wasn't really sure why she had lied in the first place, except maybe that it seemed like a betrayal to Akito to tell something so personal and so indescribable. Or perhaps she was embarrassed to tell Ines that she hadn't siphoned those memories of Doomsday, which should have been the most prominent of his thoughts, from Akito. Or maybe she was feeling guilty that she had so misjudged Akito. She had just assumed that the dark corner of his mind that he kept hidden from her contained his happy memories, ones he didn't want her to see. It never occurred to her that perhaps what he didn't want her to see was a future filled with more pain. 

Or perhaps she was just pissed off that Akito _hadn't_ shown her the future. Whatever the reason, she figured that while her lie was selfish, it wasn't hurting anyone. That decided, she could focus on finding Akito. 

Not that it ended up being a difficult task; he was radiating turmoil. That meant one thing to Lapis-- he was with Yurika. Concentrating carefully, easing her way through their shared memories so he wouldn't know she was there, she figured out what had happened that morning and where the two had ended up. Then she turned around to go and meet them. She had wanted to talk to Akito alone beforehand, but with Yurika there she was almost positive the truth would come out. As an afterthought, she pushed gently at the dark area in Akito's mind that had eluded her knowledge for so long, only to find it completely impenetrable still. 

******

"Captain!!!!" Harry yelled irritably, jumping around uncomfortably as he struggled to pull his pantleg free from where it had been caught in his boot. "What's the big idea?"

"Since we requested the _Lilac's_ presence, it's only correct that we should meet them." Ruri murmured, patiently standing to one side of the landing area with Saburota at her side smirking like an arrogant bodyguard.

"I didn't request anybody's presence!" Harry protested loudly, twisting his overshirt around so the shoulder pads rested where they were supposed to. "What's going on? Why won't anyone explain anything to me?" He waved Lapis's vague note in Ruri's general direction.

"Maybe if you wouldn't oversleep so much you would know what was going on." Ruri commented quietly. Harry quit talking immediately, trying to decide if that had been an insult or a statement of fact. With the Captain he was never sure.

"So I hear you spent the night with that Lapis chick," Saburota chuckled suggestively. Harry's face flamed scarlet and his embarrassed gaze slid guiltily over Ruri's emotionless face before he rested the full measure of his fury on the taller man.

"It's not like that, you pervert! And her name is Lapis Lazuli, not 'That Lapis Chick,'" he yelled at the blond Jovian, "And what's _your_ excuse for being late?" 

"I was taking Yoshi to sick bay," Saburota grinned. "So Doc Erina can take care of him."

"Erina isn't a medical doctor." Ruri remarked as Harry said, "'Yoshi?'"

Saburota's grin got wider. Harry's lip curled but before he could say anything the crew of the _Lilac_ began to arrive through the airlock. Three came down the ramp in the front, but the rest were pushed back into the ship by the ship's security officers. The not-so-fortunate crowded as closely as possible to get a glimpse of the electronic fairy.

"Lt. Commander Hoshino Ruri," the tall man in front said, taking her hand, "It's an honor to finally meet you face to face." He held her gaze a little longer than was necessary. Ruri felt her face getting hot. Quickly shaking the feeling away, she stepped back slightly and introduced Saburota and Harry. After the formalities had been dispensed with, the six stood in uneasy silence. Ruri was positive her face was bright red and was thoroughly confused with herself. Harry was sullenly glaring at the floor and trying to inch closer to Saburota so he could step on his foot, while the Jovian was sidestepping deftly. Colonel Araragi was busy thinking how pretty Ruri was and his two officers were just as smitten if not more so.

"I'm curious to know the details of this most interesting assignment," Araragi remarked when no one else spoke. "My ship has to be refueled before we can head back to the Council. Perhaps we could discuss it over dinner?"

"Smooth, Commander!" his first officer congratulated him, grinning proudly.

Ruri, who had just managed to stop blushing, flushed bright red once again. Harry's attention immediately focused on this new threat, who was standing there looking slightly embarrassed while he hit on the Captain. 

"_Who do you think you are, you...mmph!_" he started shouting but was cut off when Saburota's arm snaked around and locked the younger boy in a headlock and covered his mouth in the same movement. Harry tried to bite him but couldn't free himself enough to achieve the desired effect.

"Dinner would be...fine," Ruri managed, regaining control of herself. This started a new round of muffled protests from Harry. Saburota grinned down at his jealous little prisoner. He'd have to take the kid to a club in a few years. 

******

"Lapis!" Yurika said in surprise as they met the little girl coming around the corner. The former was a little breathless, having a hard time keeping up with Akito's quick pace in heels; but he had insisted that they get out of the area of their jump as quickly as possible. He had also been adamant that she not boson jump at all until he could get rid of the Sixsome. Yurika found it easier not to argue, so she concentrated on the anticipation of kissing Akito again. And after an unfortunate meeting with a dip in the road, she concentrated on not tripping.

Lapis nodded in acknowledgment of Yurika's greeting, but her attention was solely on Akito. Her usually blank golden eyes were fixed on his face with an intensity that Akito found strange and somewhat unnerving. "Akito, I have to talk to you," she said, leaving no room for argument.

"About what?" His uneasiness growing, he shot a quick glance in Yurika's direction.

"I'm going to be sent to the Joint Peacekeeping Forces Council on the Moon," she said slowly, "To report a highly classified discovery before any one governmental faction gets a hold of it." 

Akito relaxed visibly. "Oh."

"Whose discovery?" Yurika queried.

"Ines Fresange and Hoshino Ruri," Lapis answered. She looked around as if she expected someone had sneaked up behind her, then turned back to Yurika and Akito. "They've discovered the schematics for boson jumping." Her focus returned to Akito. She could sense his fear growing again. Strangely enough, she felt a morbid sort of glee in building the suspense to make him uncomfortable. "They deciphered the codes for each jump and tested the theory on a cache of hidden files in Aiphis's memory."

"Aiphis...?" Yurika's confused look deepened. Akito stared quietly at Lapis, who stared back unflinching.

"How much..." he began haltingly.

"Everything," she answered.

"Ano..." Yurika looked back and forth between the pair, aware that she was missing something important and getting rather irritated by the fact.

"_Tell_ her," Lapis ordered him. "You don't need to hide anything from us any longer!"

"It's better if..."

"It would be better if you'd stop thinking so much and just _trust_ her." 

"Lapis..." Yurika said kindly, "Akito knows that I support him. If he's not ready to tell me something, he doesn't have to."

"You should tell her the truth," Lapis ignored her, "Because if you don't then Ines and Ruri will. They're going to tell everyone about Doomsday if you don't do it first."

"Doomsday?" Yurika's eyes widened. "Akito..."

Akito relaxed again, though this time Lapis had no idea why. 

"I trust Ines's discretion," he said. 

And Lapis realized quite suddenly that Akito still knew something they didn't.

******

"Amazing," Ines whispered, glasses perched precariously on the edge of her nose. "Predictable, but still incredible." She hadn't meant to leave off her work with the Artifact for so long, but another thought had sprouted in her mind and wouldn't be quieted until the theory was proven. And now it was. And though her suspicions had been confirmed, she was still strangely unsatisfied.

A scratching noise near the door caught her attention. A young enlisted man stood uneasily in the entrance, shifting feet nervously and keeping a tight hold on the man beside him. Ines' eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch. "Yes?"

"I was given orders to leave him with you." he pushed the older man forward. "Ms. Won's orders."

Ines frowned, but before she could protest she was left alone with Yamasaki Yoshio. He was probably the last person she ever wanted to be left with, and on top of that, she had no idea why she _had_ been left with him.

"Why did Erina send you to me?" she asked coldly.

"Because you're the head of Nergal's boson jump research team." he answered sullenly. "And I'll be working under you."

"Over my dead body," the blonde snapped. Yoshio flinched visibly.

"But I'm sure that if we pool our knowledge we could discover everything about the Artifact..."

"So you could take my discoveries back to your Successor friends? I don't think so."

"I don't have Successor friends. I betrayed them."

Ines's frown turned into an angry smirk. "Betrayal seems to be one of your only talents."

"Ai, it wasn't my fault," he said sharply, moving forward until he was facing her directly. "I didn't want to leave you but I didn't have a choice."

"That's not the point." Ines looked away.

"I was fourteen-- I was on vacation with my parents, for heaven's sake! I had to go back to Earth and I couldn't take a strange magically appearing seven-year-old with me. Would you rather I left you wandering around the desert where I'd found you?"

"That's not the point!" she yelled, breathing deeply to try to calm herself. She didn't want to remember those first few weeks. She didn't want to think about it. "You betrayed everyone's trust when you became a Successor. And Erina may be willing to forgive you, but I am not so naive!"

"I went because they had the Artifact." he said shortly. "I'd poured most of my life into studying it, and I didn't care who had it as long as I could continue my work."

Ines looked at him closely. "We don't have the Artifact. The Successors do."

"The Successors also have a definitive lack of morals. It's been bothering me."

"You hooked Yurika up to the Artifact like she was some sort of computer chip!" Ines protested. "You were going to put _me_ in there! And the _Successors'_ morals bother you?"

"I wasn't going to put you in the Artifact." Yoshio sighed. "I didn't have a choice about most of what went on after the war ended; I had to put someone in there or they'd kill me and my family. I used Ms. Misumaru because she was the only one whose chemical makeup could handle it. I told them that the others wouldn't work, but Kusukabe hated Tenkawa and I think he _wanted_ to drive your pilot crazy."

Ines blinked. "Wait... are you saying that Akito was used as a Human Imaging System as well?"

"Briefly. Their ultimate goal was to create a network of imaging systems and jumpers, all chemically connected, to boost the Artifact's power. But anyone they used as an imaging system became so unbalanced that they had to be replaced. Luckily for Tenkawa, Aritomo wanted him for a different experiment so he was removed before they had to commit him."

_What is so big that they would need such a huge power source to jump it?_ Ines wondered uselessly. But there were more important matters to attend to. Namely, Akito's time as the Human Imaging System, when he would have access to an unlimited number of boson jump records. Yoshio's betrayal of everything good in the universe ranked right up there as well, and she wasn't going to let him forget it. "You were there." she accused him. "You were there while they messed with Akito's head."

"I didn't have a _choice_!" Yoshio almost screamed it. "Fear is a powerful motivator."

"And you're not afraid of them anymore?" Ines asked sweetly. He wasn't going to get her sympathy when he'd let them drive men crazy and turn a woman into a statue all in the name of progress.

"My wife is dead," he said flatly. "They can't threaten her anymore. And Nergal is keeping my daughter safe. So truthfully, Nergal has more leverage over me than the Successors do at this point."

Ines blinked twice. "I'm sorry," she found herself muttering. "I didn't know."

Yoshio shook his head. "I know you don't want to trust me, but I'm appealing to you as the 14 year old kid who gave you his lunch when he found you on Mars. We're going to have to work together if we want to stop the Successors from building their 'New Order.'"

Ines looked up sharply. "Tell me what happened after Akito and Yurika were kidnapped. _Everything_." 

Yoshio hid his smile because their conversation was too solemn, but he knew he'd won.

******

Harry sat dejectedly in the hall outside of the Captain's chambers, clicking the toes of his shoes together with his shoulders hunched up in a miserable ball. The door was open, but with all the excited chattering coming from inside, Harry couldn't bring himself to go in.

"Ruriruri, this is so exciting!" Megumi exclaimed as she rummaged through Ruri's closet. Yukina, placing a fancy chopstick in Ruri's hair, stood back to admire her work. The white strands were perfectly coiled and shone quietly as the light from the vanity reflected off the intricate twists.

"Is all this really necessary?" Ruri murmured, her cheeks bright pink with embarrassment. Yukina's answer was to attack with eyeshadow and lipstick. 

"Of course it's all necessary!" Megumi insisted, still digging through the closet. "It's your first date, after all! Is this all you have?" She pulled a frilly dress out to examine more closely. Ruri recognized it as the dress she had worn at Akito and Yurika's wedding.

"Megumi!" Yukina scolded. "It's a date, not a formal dance; isn't there something simple?"

Megumi went back to the closet. Ruri, flushing deeply, ducked her head. "It's not a date," she insisted.

"It's not?" Yukina asked in puzzlement. "It sure sounds like one."

"I'm supposed to be discussing arrangements for Lapis's departure over dinner."

Megumi stood up straight. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "It's one of _those_ dates." She reached out and grabbed a black turtleneck minidress, laying it out on the bed. "This is perfect, then."

"'Those dates?'" Ruri echoed in confusion. 

"One where you don't know if it's a date or not." Yukina explained. "I don't think you'll need any blush."

Ruri's flush deepened. "I don't think it's a date." she said again.

Megumi shrugged. "Well, there's one way to know. If he gives you flowers, it's a date. If he lets you split the bill, it's not a date."

"Oh."

Outside, Harry's dour face had developed a distinctively wicked grin.

******

"Doesn't it seem odd that we weren't informed that the girl's presence was required at the JF Council?" Akatsuki asked-- announced, actually. "Almost as if they didn't want us to know at all." Lapis remained silent, staring down at her feet. She _hadn't_ wanted them to know at all, but of course Akatsuki made it his business to know everything. A JF ship couldn't just sit in his docking bay without attracting his notice. Too bad he and Erina had met up with Akito, Yurika and Lapis before she could reach the safe silence of the ship. For the first time since its destruction, Lapis wished for the stillness of the Eucharis, which was secure and quiet if not particularly homey.

Akatsuki looked down at Lapis expectantly, but she continued to stare at the floor, as if concentrating only on putting one foot in front of the other. In spite of himself, Akito was proud of her for not losing her calm. However unworthy Akatsuki was, Lapis idolized him just as she idolized everyone else on the Nadesico. But she took her mission very seriously, and said nothing.

Akatsuki's half-smile turned down slightly, but he was undaunted. "Obviously they wish to know everything they can about the Successors, but surely Tenkawa would have a clearer memory of such things than a little girl?"

"Akatsuki," Akito snapped, "Shut up."

And surprisingly, he did. It shocked him-- he had never once bowed to the pilot's will before, not really, and yet for some reason the thought of becoming his enemy now filled Akatsuki with dread. Not fear, but incredible impatience at the thought of going up against Akito.

"It doesn't matter," Erina said coldly. In matters of pride, she had limitless patience and a capacity for malice almost as big. She would be quiet for no one but herself, no matter the consequence. "We're here."

The _Lilac_ nestled snugly in the corner of the launch bay, waiting to be refueled. Lapis clutched her small knapsack tightly. Yurika had insisted that they help Lapis get settled in for her journey, and though Akito was less than pleased, he seemed too tired of arguing to resist much. It would be a long and tedious trip, because the _Lilac_ would not be utilizing any chulips. It would not be wise to call attention to the ship, especially when the Successors controlled the Artifact. Lapis would be on the ship for 14 days, the longest period of time she had spent away from Akito's side that she could remember. The thought frightened her much less than she would have expected, but she was glad that Akito and Yurika were there. It would keep Akatsuki and Ms. Won from asking her too many questions. She didn't like to hide things from anyone-- it was hard to do.

"Lapis Lazuli," said a quiet voice. She looked up to see an aging man in Admiral's garb standing before her. "I'm Admiral Jackht." He pronounced it like "Yacht." 

"Hello," Lapis said, gripping her bag tighter.

Admiral Jackht smiled kindly. "Would you like me to show you the ship?"

Lapis glanced up at Yurika, who smiled encouragingly, then turned back the Admiral and nodded.

******

"That's really all I know." Yoshio said, spreading his hands apologetically. Ines closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "I really haven't a clue what Tenkawa discovered how to do inside the Artifact-- I can only speculate."

"Does anyone else know that's all you know?"

"No," Yoshio looked extremely puzzled; Ines smiled to reassure him, but she looked dreadfully agitated herself.

"Thank you." Now she had another task to complete in a very short period of time. If her suspicions were correct, and she was sure they were, then there wasn't a whole lot of time for her to prevent someone's death. Yoshio had provided a way for her to confront Akito and inform the crew of their danger, without waiting for Lapis to report to the JF Council. In fact, she didn't need to mention boson jump schematics at all.


	12. Doomsday: The Beginning of the End

PART ELEVEN

Doomsday: The Beginning of the End

******

Jun glanced at his watch for the millionth time, tapping his knife against the table impatiently. It was just like Yukina to arrange a date and then forget to show up.

"Are you sure this is the right restaurant this time?" a tired voice asked from behind him.

"Gomen, gomen," a more familiar voice answered, "I'm very bad at directions, but I'm sure this time."

He turned to see Harry talking to a man around Jun's own age who looked a little worse for wear, as if he'd just been on a ten-mile hike. He carried a bouquet of roses as if it were the most precious thing in the world; in fact the flowers were pretty much the only thing about him that wasn't bedraggled.

"Sorry," Harry continued with the wide eyes that meant he was acting innocent. The other man handed the bouquet to Harry and took off his suit jacket. Glaring at the wrinkled fabric, which looked as if part of it was covered in ash, he quickly tossed it in the trash can being pushed by a passing janitor. Then he pulled himself up to his full height, smoothed back his hair and straightened his shirt and vest, which improved his appearance remarkably. Harry hid a wicked smirk behind the roses as the man reached out for them.

"These roses aren't for the Captain, are they?"

"Yes, who else would they be for?"

Well," Harry blinked, "The Captain is allergic to flowers."

The man looked horrified; Jun frowned. _Ruri isn't allergic to anything, is she?_

"But I'm sure she'll accept them anyway, even if her face swells up as big as a balloon!" Harry exclaimed, handing them back. Then he turned and pointed to the door. "Look, here she comes now!"

A panicky look came into the young man's eyes. He searched around for the trash can, but the janitor was no where to be seen. Frantically, he searched for another method of disposal. Finally, his eyes found their way to Jun.

"Here, hold these!" he said sharply, practically throwing the bouquet at Jun, who had to stand to catch them. "Ms. Hoshino, you look lovely!"

Ruri blushed as he offered her an arm, his sudden elegance a complete contrast with the near-hysterical man Jun had just been observing. Harry slipped away, clutching Araragi's wallet tightly to his chest and chuckling evilly. Jun decided the whole scene wasn't worth trying to figure out.

"Oh, Jun, those are lovely! Are they for me?" 

"H-Hey, Yukina!" Jun looked down at the bouquet and then at Araragi's retreating back. "Um... yes, they're for you."

"Thank you so much!" Yukina smiled brilliantly, taking a seat at the table. His seat, to be exact. It didn't escape Jun's notice that she had settled where she could keep an eye on Ruri and her tall, flustered date. Jun sighed, but by now he had learned that a date with Yukina usually involved an ulterior motive.

******

"You know, I just wish it were a little more homey in here," Yurika commented as she hung up one of Lapis's dresses. Lapis has long since stopped trying to insist that she could unpack herself. Yurika didn't even seem to notice that she was doing it. "And who's going to read to you now?"

Lapis flushed at Akito's inquisitive look. "I think I'll be all right."

"But it's so _bare,_" Yurika insisted. "There isn't even any decoration except for this military issue paneling. There's still some time before take-off. Why don't I run back to the Nadesico and grab some...."

"Yurika!" Akito silenced her as Lapis opened her mouth to protest. Sighing, he reached into one of his pockets and drew out a small, brightly colored object. "Here, put this on a shelf or something."

"It's-- a Gekigangar figurine." Lapis announced in surprise. "I... thank you."

Akito turned on Yurika with a "Happy now?" expression fixed on his face. Yurika just stared at him, eyes shining with elated tears. Akito took a step backwards nervously.

"That's the Geki from our wedding cake, isn't it, Akito? You kept it all these years!" Choking back a sob, she flung her arms around his waist happily. "I knew you still cared about me!"

"I only kept it because it was Gekigangar," Akito replied uncomfortably, trying to pry her away. "Sheesh, Yurika, let go!"

Yurika only hugged him closer. Akito stopped struggling for a moment, a small smile touching his face, before he realized what he was doing and gently pushed her back. "So don't get all sentimental. I only kept it because I like Gekigangar."

It wasn't any use; Yurika wasn't even listening.

"I hate to interrupt," Admiral Jackht coughed, "But our lift-off is in 15 minutes. If you will all accompany me to the hangar, you can say your good-byes there."

******

"So where's what's his name?" Harry snickered as Ruri entered the hotel lobby with Jun and Yukina hurrying after her.

"Back at the restaurant," Ruri answered. Harry grinned; she hadn't even let him accompany her home. There went the loser.

"He's washing dishes because he lost his wallet sometime this afternoon while you and he were trying to find the restaurant!" Yukina announced dramatically. "Of all the luck!"

"Your favorite restaurant." Ruri remarked in the infinitely disinterested tone that had become her trademark. But her tone didn't fool him for a minute--Harry's smile fell off his face as quickly as it had appeared. 

_Busted._.. He glanced nervously behind the plant on the coffee table where he had, in his glee, stupidly left Araragi's wallet sitting in the open. 

"So I came back here, because he obviously lost his wallet in our hotel lobby."

"O-Obviously?" Harry stuttered, a nervous grimace twitching at the corner of his mouth. Ruri didn't even blink. Staring at him until he was forced to lower his gaze, she reached out slowly and slid the wallet off the table to hang limply at her side. The only signs of her fury were her unusually stiff posture and the white line around her mouth where her lips were pressed together savagely. 

"Captain, wait... I..." he tried to dig around for an excuse, could think of none, and hung his head in shame. It had been an extremely juvenile stunt for him to pull, one not befitting an officer on a battleship.

Ruri turned and left the lobby just as Yukina realized what was going on. "Makibi Harry, you awful, nasty little boy!" she shrieked. "How could you do something that terrible to Ruri? It's worse than wrong! You're cruel and malicious and you ruined a perfectly good date!"

Jun came back from the vending machines at that moment, a half eaten candy bar in his mouth. His dinner had been interrupted by Yukina's meddling, and he was still starving. "Yukina," he said around the chocolate, "Don't be so harsh with him. It's hard having a competitor for someone's affections, especially if you're losing. Then all you can do is accept it and move on to something better," he smiled at Harry in understanding, then turned back to Yukina and took another bite of his candy bar.

There was a moment of silence while Yukina interpreted that statement. Then, grinning from ear to ear, she pounced.

"Jun!" she cried happily, oblivious to the fact that she had retwisted his ankle in her eagerness to hug him, "Marry me!"

Jun choked on his chocolate.

******

By the time Ruri had retrieved Araragi from the restaurant kitchen, apologized for Harry's behavior, and returned with him to the loading docks to board the _Lilac_, most of the crew was already there and waiting. Yurika and Akito were also there, standing on either side of Lapis, each holding one of her hands and smiling reassuringly. Akatsuki and Erina were talking to Admiral Jackht, or grilling him, maybe. The Aestivallis pilots were standing around the vending machines off to one side. In fact, most of the Nadesico's crew had come to see the _Lilac_ off, probably because the Nadesico was scheduled to leave shortly after. Ruri scanned the crowd quickly as she accompanied Araragi to the boarding ramp. Harry, Yukina and Jun were missing-- no surprise there-- as was Seiya, who was undoubtedly hiding out from his wife on the Nadesico. Ines was also gone. Ruri frowned, but there wasn't any time to try to find her. Harry's little stunt had made Araragi quite late and everyone who knew of Lapis's mission was anxious for the ship to get under way.

Yurika knelt to give Lapis a hug and Ruri realized it was time to say their good-byes. She glanced up at Araragi, startled to find him staring back down at her. He smiled, clearing his throat.

"Well..." he began as she blushed. "It's been an interesting evening."

"Yes, it has," she murmured, still pink.

"You lead an exciting life," he commented. "But let's go somewhere quiet next time. How about a picnic?"

"That sounds nice." Ruri found herself staring at the floor. What was she so embarrassed about? She hadn't done anything humiliating, but here she couldn't even bring herself to meet his eyes. How stupid.

"Great!" Araragi beamed, "Then it's a date!"

Ruri's eyes went wide, and got even bigger when he took her hand and kissed it. Then he was gone, whistling cheerfully until he got on board where the rest of his crew was waiting. Then he was tackled by most of his officers, all wanting to know what the fairy was like. Ruri blinked at them. They were acting incredibly immature for grown adults. Then again, considering the "adult" behavior on the original Nadesico, she shouldn't really have been surprised.

Lapis looked over at her, and their golden eyes locked in identical pained expressions.

******

Much to Akatsuki's chagrin, the _Lilac_ departed without its crew leaking any information. Only the Commander of the ship and the Admiral knew exactly why Lapis was going, and neither of them were talking. He would have liked to detain the little girl and ask her what this was all about, but Tenkawa and Yurika had refused to leave her alone for even a few minutes, especially not to talk to him. And much as he hated to admit it, there wasn't much he could have done to make Lapis stay without using her very creation to claim her as Nergal property. The press would have a field day with that little secret, if it ever got out.

Shaking his head, he turned and left the hangar. Erina left off glowering at Tenkawa to follow. They passed Ines in the hall, the blonde giving Erina a dirty look that said, "I know you sent Yoshio to me out of pure malice." Not that she was entirely sorry that she had the chance to clear up her past with the man, but it was the principle that counted.

Erina just smiled smugly.

******

An empty patch was all that met Ines's eyes when she burst hurriedly into the hangar. Suddenly, she felt quite sick.

"This ship's already gone?" she asked the nearest attendant.

"I'm afraid so," the attendant answered apologetically, writing a few things down on his notepad. "You just missed it." Ines looked around for a way to call the dispersing crew's attention. 

"Mr. Yamasaki, if you would?" she said absently, still searching. Yoshio rolled his eyes.

"You can call me Yoshio, you know," he muttered, but turned to do as she had implied. Ines didn't hear. Eyeing the attendant's megaphone, she snatched it right out from under his arm and climbed onto the launch pad.

"Attention!" she called. Almost everyone stopped and turned around. Akito, Yurika, and Ruri, who were still on the pad, looked towards the blonde in shock. Akito got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, and Ruri kept glancing furtively at him, but Yurika just looked thoughtful. Ines paused for a few seconds, until Yoshio succeeded in linking her to every relevant screen he could think of, then began to talk rapidly again.

"Everyone, this is an emergency session of the How and Why of Nadesico." she announced loudly. "It has come to my attention that the life of every person hearing this is in danger from a Martian Successor plot to destroy this solar system. Until recently, only one person knew about their plans: Tenkawa Akito, who withheld his knowledge in an attempt to save the rest of us."

Akito fell his stomach drop and he developed a harsh pounding in his temple even as Yurika looked at him sharply and took his hand. He couldn't believe it. Lapis had said they'd discovered his boson jump schematics, but... How in the world had Ines been able to piece together the entire story-- piece it together correctly-- with practically nothing to go on? Even for her, it was an incredible intuitive feat.

The answer, of course, was that Ines had found some other modes of getting information that Lapis wasn't aware of. Though there really wasn't a point in trying to figure out _how_ Ines had discovered his plans, because she was already sharing them with the rest of the crew. And Akito couldn't for the life of him think of a way to discredit her story, other than to simply deny it. But he had a feeling a plain denial would only cement Ines's arguments. What could he do? For all he had done to protect them, his friends seemed determined to get themselves killed. It was almost more than he could take.

Still, she had the moral decency-- or perhaps malice-- to stop speaking and let him explain himself. Akito would have given anything to be gone from there at that moment, but he knew that it was no use fighting. Ines was giving him a chance to make amends for his behavior, but if he didn't tell the rest of the story, then she would do it herself. Either way, the crew was going to know of its danger.

His voice was flat and harsh as he quickly outlined the situation: the Successors were planning a new attack, one more devastating in a single week than the Jovian War had been in its entirety. In 11 days the solar system would be plunged into a massive civil battle, with the Successors at a major advantage. During his time as the Human Imaging System, he had discovered how to travel backwards and forwards in time. However, during his first, accidental jump to the future, he saw this Doomsday operation go into effect and watched as the Nadesico was completely destroyed. After that, he became useless as the Imaging System, because he could not visualize any scenes except that of the end of everything that mattered to him. The futures were not always the same, but inevitably, someone he loved dearly died in each one.

Wanting to believe that there was some other destiny ahead of the Nadesico, he had gone systematically through the timeline to find out if he could do something to change it. Since time has no meaning to the Artifact, he had spent what might have been an infinity doggedly changing even the smallest details in his behavior in hopes of defeating Doomsday before it happened. Even when he escaped the Successors with Lapis, he had continued to try to see a more positive future. In the end, he had come to a shattering conclusion: someone was going to die, no matter what he did. So he had chosen the path he thought was best; it had taken a lot of manipulation on his part, but he had fixed it so that he would have been the only one to be killed. Even after he had failed the first time-- here he paused and glanced up from the floor, but could not bring himself to meet Yurika's gaze-- there had still been a chance to make himself the only casualty.

"But it all depended on everyone's ignorance," he finished bitterly. "Now that you all know the story, I can't promise anything."

"You mean you wanted us to be ignorant so that no one would know to stop you when you went off to your death!" Ines said, her forehead creasing with worry.

"Well, I'm _glad_ I've found out," Yurika declared. "I'm not going to let you die!"

Akito winced and turned away. "I know," he said, looking up at the deceptively cheerful morning sky through the open roof. "That's why my plan would only work if none of you knew."

"Don't try to make me feel guilty that you can't kill yourself!" Yurika cried, reaching out and taking his arm. "Akito, turn around." 

He obeyed, too tired to fight anymore. "I know you were just trying to protect us," her face softened gently, "You love us and you want to keep us safe."

"Look at them," Ines motioned to the captivated audience below. "This isn't the Jovian War. They aren't soldiers. Every one of them has separate lives now, different places they call home. They all put aside the things that are important to them for something that is more important. The safety of their loved ones."

Akito looked Yurika quietly. "I thought you were dead once before," he said simply. Then he looked out at his friends, acquaintances, even the perfect strangers who happened to be caught up in the scene. "I won't let you die. I'll kill myself before I let anyone close to me get killed."

"No one's going to die." Ruri assured him with her infallible calm.

"You've got that damn right!" a voice shouted. Ryoko shoved her way forward until she was standing directly in front of Akito.

"The Artifact really showed you the future?"

"It showed me all the possible futures. No matter what happens, people here will die."

"So it lied. It's a stupid box, anyway. If it trapped each missing ship from the Jovian War because it wasn't allowed to kill, there has to be a glitch in the plan somewhere."

"And even if it's true, so what? Akito, we care about you-- you're not helping anyone by trying to make us hate you." Yurika paused to look out over the crew, assembled solemnly in front of her. "Each moment of our lives has to be cherished for itself. The future is what it is; if it can be changed, then good, but if it can't, then we have to be able to live as happily as we can until that future comes."

"You have to remember the good parts; just like Gekigangar." Tsukai called.

Akito stared at him for a moment, then smiled.

******

"Well how was _I_ supposed to know you didn't have any food stuck in your throat?" she asked indignantly as they trudged towards the hangar.

"Yukina, you do the _Heimlich Maneuver_ when someone is choking, _not_ artificial respiration!" Jun sighed a mushroom cloud, giving her suitcase a particularly hard jerk.

Yukina slowed to a stop, lip jutting out in a definite pout though her eyes reeked of mischief. Her grip on Harry's shoulder slackened minutely, and the boy sank to the ground, rubbing his permanently bruised flesh. If there was one thing he had learned above all during this escapade, it was never but never to make Yukina mad. At this moment, thankfully, her attention was focused on her hapless boyfriend. "I didn't see you protesting that much." 

Jun sped up to reach the open hangar doors. "I wasn't breathing." he said it without looking back, but he had turned so red that even the tips of his ears were pink. Harry jumped up and ran after him before Yukina could grab him again. Yukina shook her head and smiled slightly. Men were such silly creatures.

******

As Jun and Yukina soon learned, after the day's unexpected events there had been some shuffling in the crew roster on the Nadesico C. Ines would be remaining in Osaka with Yoshio to continue her work with boson jumping, and Howmei was returning to her restaurant, for good this time. Luckily, Eri and Mikako were more than willing to rejoin their friends in the kitchen. Akito, of course, was not letting Yurika out of his sight, Tsukai was following his new idol to the death, and Megumi changed her mind and joined them all "for one last mission." Akatsuki insisted he had more pressing matters and couldn't waste his time adding another pilot to an already overloaded Aestivallis team. He did, however, insist that Erina remain on the ship. He also wanted to fire Mayumi, but Ruri convinced him to let the woman stay on. They would be short one hand until she decided to forgive Harry and let him back on the bridge, and Mayumi already knew her way around Omoikane's operating system, so in the end she stayed. The new budget he had to draw up nearly drove Prospector mad, which was a pity considering they never used it.

******

"_Nadesico is cleared for launch."_ the impassive overhead voice announced, echoing through the hangar. There was a sense of fear and excitement lingering in the air-- the coming battle had everyone on their toes.

Ruri slumped slightly in her chair when they cleared Earth's orbit. It had been several years since the Nadesico's first flight, but she always still expected the Big Barrier to pop up and try to fry the distortion field. They had ten hours to wait until they rendezvoused with the chulip that would take them to Mars. From there, using what little information Ines had provided them with and Akito's knowledge, they were going to try to find and destroy the Successor base of operations.

Ruri turned her face towards the ceiling, closing her eyes. _It's true_, she thought, _Everything begins and ends on Mars._

Suddenly, the fact that she had not slept in two days began to sink in. Quietly, she slipped off her chair and headed for her quarters to get some rest.

******

Ines couldn't concentrate on her work. She knew it was imperative that she stay and try to find a way around Successor control of the Artifact, but doubts still plagued her mind. Had the real reason she stayed behind been that she was trying to save her own neck? In the future she had seen, the Nadesico would not stand supreme much longer. Was she merely afraid that the next mission would be her last?

Yoshio was no help. He was like a child on Christmas morning, pouring over her reports like they were sacred text, sometimes stopping only to write up his own theorems and equations and saving them on several discs to make sure none of the ideas were lost.

Staring at the growing stack of chips on her desk, she was reminded of the disc she had given herself during the Jovian War.

_They asked me to give you this!_ she heard her own small, squeaky voice cry out before she vanished. Over the years she had spent her free time pouring over the contents of the chip. They were small programs, relatively normal and almost totally useless. However, the memory capacity for such a disc was spectacular. She had often wondered why she had been given such and odd gift. _Or what hidden information it held._

She hadn't tried to run the program using the new 256-bit system. Swearing to return to boson jumping at some point, she jammed the disc into the little slot at her terminal and watched with bright, glowing eyes as numbers and words began to fill up the screen. It was a boson jump, like all the rest, but there were glowing sentences strewn throughout it, like someone had gone through with a highlighter and explained all the functions in the margins. Reading over some of the notes, she discovered that by following the glowing instructions, she could perfectly replicate the jump, even though she couldn't visualize the destination.

Out of curiosity, she scrolled to the bottom of the program, down where Akito's strange listing of the deceased had been. Another glowing sentence met her eager, searching gaze; one that filled her with the unexpected thrill of making a major scientific breakthrough: _Help us._

_******_

Ruri was shaken awake by Harry.

"What do you want?" she asked, eyebrows dipping ever-so-slightly in the anger she refused to let go of.

"Akatsuki's ordered us to turn around." he said, trying to sound apologetic and not succeeding too well. "Something's happened."

******

Akatsuki didn't even bother to say something by way of greeting when Ruri stepped on the bridge. Everyone who could be spared from their duties was already gathered there. Akatsuki's face, magnified several times by the main screen, looked particularly tired and tense. "The Successors have sent us a threat, which we've proved to be valid. Our conditions are to keep the Nadesico in dry-dock," he said grimly. "And to send Tenkawa Akito, Misumaru Yurika, and Ines Fresange to the Lunar Base immediately. There they will be met and accompanied by the Sixsome to ensure their safety."

"Ensure their deaths, more likely," Tsukai growled. "What kind of stunt have they pulled to think we'll bend to such an arrogant demand?"

"A pretty successful one," Gort said ominously. "They've captured the _Lilac."_

"That's the threat." Akatsuki continued. "If we refuse to follow these instructions within 72 hours, Lapis Lazuli and the crew of the _Lilac_ will be executed."

******

Aritomo looked down on the bustling Lunar Base grimly, both arms behind his back. Right now, demands of surrender were being received by the JF Council, the Jovian hierarchy and the Nergal UE joint chiefs. Within three days, all of them would be under siege. In one year, all of them would be utterly destroyed.

"How long did you give them?" a deep voice asked from behind him.

Aritomo glanced back at the shadowed figure briefly. "72 hours."

Fingers tapped on the tabletop impatiently. "That only gives us twelve hours to finish the job."

"We can finish in twelve hours. But a rescue can't be put together in that time."

"We'll see."

******

The stir that statement caused was so great that Yurika's shocked cry almost went unnoticed. Akito had to hold her up by the elbows to keep her on her feet. Ruri opened her mouth and closed it again, eyes wide. There was a hollow spot forming in her chest, and suddenly she felt it become harder to breathe. If all this pain was what growing up was about, she wanted no part of it.

Akito also had an awful sensation in the pit of his stomach, but this time it was from the realization that his worst fears were coming true and crushing the seeds of hope he'd allowed to grow up in his delusion.

"They didn't mention Doomsday at all," Erina, the ever-practical one, muttered to no one in particular. "It's a ridiculous demand by itself, to exchange one almost useless A-class jumper and a crew of soldiers who don't matter either way for three A-class jumpers and the keys to the Artifact." Everyone stared at her, open-mouthed. A few shot worried glances towards Ruri, but the young Captain didn't seem to be taking in what was being said at all. Erina looked over at Akito. "They know that you know the future. They're going to put Doomsday into effect early to keep you from acting to stop them."

"Or they're expecting us to refuse the conditions and have something else planned for Lapis and the crew of the _Lilac_." Minato returned coldly.

"This is not the place to discuss this," Akito cut everyone off. "No matter what we agree or disagree to, the Successors will not release their hostages. In all the futures I saw, the Successors did not keep prisoners. They don't plan to negotiate, they plan to destroy the rest of us."

"Minato, turn us around." Ruri said, so quietly that only the helmswoman should have heard it. And yet, it sliced through the rising storm of voices more effectively than a full-blown yell would have. It was Ruri's meaning more than her volume that demanded silence. Submission. Retreat. They had bowed under the threat-- how much farther they still had to bend was uncertain.

_Deadline: 72 hours_

******

Akatsuki ran his hands through his hair in a helpless rage. He hadn't planned for this-- he had no clue how to deal with it. Erina had been right, of course. To exchange Lapis and a bystander crew for three of the six A-class jumpers was an insane demand taken by itself. The girl's access to Akito's knowledge of the outcome of Doomsday was a more even trade. But the underlying, unspoken threat wasn't just geared towards Tenkawa. Oh, of course not, _that_ would have been convenient.

"Dammit!" he shouted to no one, staring at the empty space in the air that had moments before held a screen showing the distraught crew of the Nadesico. He should have seen it coming. He should have known that Lapis Lazuli was too tempting a prize for the Successors, but instead he'd gone and upped the stakes considerably. He had practically handed the entire JF armed forces over to the Successors. 

"Why the hell did I do something so _stupid?_" he said out loud, pausing for the sarcastic answer that never came. Erina was still on the Nadesico. It figured-- the time when he most could have used her manipulative skills, she was out of reach. Sighing, he began to doggedly put his thoughts in order and make some sense of the situation. He'd been head of Nergal before Erina came along, and he'd been a damn good one at that. He shouldn't need her support to make a decision.

Situation status: very, very bad. He'd been in the habit of sending his classified documents to his agents in the JF hierarchy through trade lines, planting the files in places the crews would never think to look even if they somehow found out the documents were on board. That roundabout way was, ironically, the most secure method to use. Sending the files over cyberspace had always proved unwise in the past. As a method of insurance against the Jovians, he periodically sent the coordinates, strengths, weaknesses, and manpower available in the Nergal UE fleet to his spies in the JF Council. This allowed them to gauge what tactics to use in negotiations, and also to determine the probable outcome of another all-out war at any given time. 

It was a process he'd used for years now, and he'd never had a problem with it.

But for the sake of time and convenience on his part, this time he'd chosen to plant his documents on the _Lilac_, because it would cost him less money to do so than it would to find an excuse to charter a trading vessel all the way out to the moon. He hadn't worried about it because he hadn't thought anyone would choose to hijack the ship. Because _no one_ outside of his inner circle knew Lapis would be onboard until the launch time. Besides, the _Lilac_ had set off from one of the highest-security hangars on Earth. Each attendant on duty had a high-level security pass. In short, the Successors should have had no way to know Lapis had left Nergal's care. There were several possible explanations for this situation, but the only one Akatsuki had time to worry about right now was the possibility that there was a spy in the inner circle. Immediately, he upgraded the first class security alert to an emergency security status. The Emergency Status was something he'd tailored back in his more paranoid days but never needed to use until now. Besides the most basic and minor of procedures done completely by the network of computer personalities, Nergal had in effect completely shut down. This allowed Akatsuki to keep an even closer eye on his "friends" and stockholders, but also had another purpose. If Nergal was on lockdown, the Nadesico would be quarantined to the Earth's atmosphere but would not be able to land. And so without putting the ship out of commission entirely he had fulfilled one part of the Successor's terms. In theory. He sincerely hoped Erina would understand his message and set a new plan in motion. Otherwise, in 12 hours he and a team of security officials would be going to take Tenkawa, Yurika and Ines to the Lunar Base. 

Actually, now that he thought of it-- if he planned it right and got some especially inept security officers, he could be on the Nadesico when the war started. He wondered if Seiya had kept his Aestivallis up to par. Knowing the man's obsession for the mechanical, though, it was probably a useless question to be asking. 

Sighing, he pulled his laptop towards him and cleared his mind. He had a lot to do and couldn't waste his time on mundane sentimentality.

******

Ruri had said little while on the bridge with the others. She had spoken even less during the trip home, remaining in her quarters and speaking to no one else. Most accepted it as her own peculiar method of grieving; in truth her exceptionally organized mind had already made a schedule for the stages of grief and was busy treating her for shock. Ruri was furious. Even as a grown up, she couldn't seem to be "normal" in any definition of the word. She couldn't even bring herself out of her ingrained passive state for long enough to shed a single tear. 

She was also furious because there was nothing she could do. The Nadesico, Omoikane had informed her, was in quarantine in Earth's atmosphere while Nergal security swept the surface in search of a spy. In 12 hours Akatsuki would be coming to the Nadesico with Ines Fressange, to take Yurika and Akito away. Of course, they wouldn't end up being taken. Akatsuki was counting on an escape. Ruri knew that much. But the spy... if there was one, most likely it would be a crewman on her own ship. It was more than she wanted to think about.

Suddenly, she was hit with the overwhelming desire to get drunk. She had never had anything heavier than the champagne at Akito and Yurika's wedding, but she figured that with the abysmally low alcohol tolerance she was likely to have, one or two glasses would send her just far enough that she could be sobered up in 12 hours. Hangovers be damned; at this point she could care less. Of course, by Nergal's regulations she was still too young to drink, which meant she'd have to go use someone's private stash. And she knew just who kept a hefty supply in their room.

Feeling remarkably, deliciously immature, Ruri pulled her key out of her uniform pocket and slipped quietly out the door.

******

She had only just reached Minato's room when she happened to trip over someone _else_, sneaking in the other way.

"Makibi Harry, what are you _doing?_" she demanded sharply, her anger only heightened by pain. She had no patience for the one standing between her and an alcohol-induced bliss.

Harry lifted a tearstained face to meet her gaze. "I-I...." he stuttered, then promptly started sobbing. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen, Captain! Now you're going to hate me forever and if I hadn't stolen his wallet you would have left on time and the spy would never have gotten them and Lapis wouldn't be with _them _again and now they're going to _kill_ her and it's all my fault_!"_

He stopped, remembering to breathe, and Ruri felt her anger melt.

"Baka," she whispered, kneeling beside him. "You little idiot." 

He hiccoughed when she wrapped him in a tight hug, leaning into her shoulder to dry his face. And then, finally, she burst into desperate tears.

******

"Akito," Yurika said kindly, pushing him gently, "The Sixsome can't get anywhere near me without both of us knowing it. You need some rest."

"I'm not leaving you alone," he said stubbornly.

"I won't be alone!" she laughed, but even she could tell it was a tense, near-hysterical giggle. "I'll have Admiral Fukube and Mr. Holy and all the Nergal officers and Erina there, too! And anyone stupid enough to cross Erina won't live to get to me!" she chirped, trying to lighten the mood again. "You know that. And if I'm in trouble, I can jump to you in an instant!"

Akito tried to convince himself that he was too drained to do anyone any good unless he slept some, but the truth was that Yurika never lost a fight when she was in "mother" mode. After she had shown him the TC she wore around her neck and assured him twice again that she would be with him instantly if there were any threats, he allowed her to bundle him into bed and kiss him good-night. Then he was asleep; the deep, dreamless sleep of the exhausted. Yurika gave him a worried glance, but had to hurry to the council room to meet with the others. She already knew what they were going to say, but she looked forward to the next hour to put her own thoughts and plans in order. She had no intention of waiting for Akatsuki to show up to tell them what to do. Actually, if it came to that, she had no intention of waiting for anyone else decide what she was going to do, either.

******

"I'm coming too!" Yoshio insisted quite stubbornly as Ines was escorted from the premises. 

"You are not either!" Ines shouted over her shoulder. "You're staying right here, and you're going to work on that Artifact until there isn't one single jump code you can't decipher! Is that clear?"

"I'm not letting them had you over to the Successors without me there to make sure nothing happens to you."

Ines whirled around, eyes blazing. "I'm not going to be handed over anywhere." she snapped. "And you _must_ stay here. It's imperative that you learn those jump codes. Learn every command. Learn them in your sleep! If we're going to win this battle, we need to be able to use the Artifact so quickly they can't trace the jumps to stop us."

It took several more exchanges between them before Yoshio finally agreed to let her be taken. Then Ines turned the focus of her attentions to Akatsuki, who was walking a few steps ahead of her and her "escorts," two teenage boys fresh out of high school who did nothing but snicker at any statement that could possibly be twisted into an obscene suggestion-- which was about every other sentence (You know guys like that, I know you do). 

"Nagare Akatsuki, you listen very carefully," she called. "Put Yoshio under house arrest if you want, but leave him in that lab and leave him _all_ the resources he would have had if I were there. I don't care whether or not you think he's a spy, if I can't be here then he's the next best thing."

Akatsuki turned around in obvious annoyance, and for the first time Ines realized that his lips were drawn into a thin, tight line and he had dark rings under his eyes. He had had a rough couple of days as well. "I know he's not a spy," he said, deliberately articulating each syllable in an attempt to be coherent. "I'd kill his daughter in an instant."

Ines chose to drop the conversation. She really didn't want to piss off Akatsuki any more by telling him what she thought of his humanity.


	13. Doomsday II: The End is Coming

The rating of this story has been moved to 'R' because there _is_ a tendency towards a lemon in this chapter. It is the most glossed-over lemon you will ever read. In fact, there is barely even a hint of citrus. But it's there. You've been warned.

PART TWELVE

Doomsday:  The End is Coming

******

Yurika squashed her irritation as she walked into the council room to find that everyone had started without her. After all, her life was one of the three demanded in exchange for Lapis. It would make sense that they would have things to discuss without her presence. 

She had barely taken her seat when a young officer ran in, shutting the door behind her and rushing over to Admiral Fukube and enacting a whispered conversation. 

"They've refused," Fukube announced sadly when he finally looked up. Yurika looked around in confusion, but no one seemed in that much of a hurry to enlighten her. Fukube nodded at the young woman, who nervously brought up a document in a window.

"Their answer states that their terms are non-negotiable." she stuttered, breathless. "If the three jumpers are not delivered to them, then they will use the girl Lapis Lazuli to fulfill their ends. They assure us they have the means to reactivate her as an Imaging System, though from their wording it does not sound like it will be a pleasant process for Ms. Lazuli or Mr. Tenkawa."

"And the crew?" Gort asked in his rumbling bass. 

"Execution." the officer replied. "They will not be held or released under any other circumstances than those set forth in the original demand."

"Well," Fukube sighed, rising to his feet, "The President of Nergal has assured me that the possibility of an all-out war has become a reality. We are already at a disadvantage, because _somehow_ the Successors have come across documents outlining the strengths and weaknesses of the JF forces. The only reason we are even considering honoring this demand is to buy time for the JF Council to prepare for war."

It was time to begin throwing out plans and analyses, which most of the people there began to do. Yurika said nothing. The Successors' reply had sent her into a deep distress. If Lapis was to be of any use to them, they would have to separate her from Akito or use their connection to kidnap him. She knew as well as the Successors that neither Akito nor Lapis had been a successful Imaging System, but they would probably be much more successful as a pair. They would try them as a last resort, when time was running out, and the stress would kill them. In truth, the only one who could truly be of any use as the Human Imaging System was Yurika herself. The real reason they wanted Akito and Ines was to prevent them from helping the JF forces in the war. With all the active A-class jumpers under their control, the battle would be over before it even began. 

She felt a stab of pain for Ruri. Araragi and his crew were as good as dead. Nergal would never submit to the terms of the Successor's demand, and even if they did, Akito had told her that the crewmen of the _Lilac_ were most likely to be the first casualties of the coming war. But her real worries were focused on Lapis. If Yurika didn't go as demanded, they would rip Lapis away from Akito and use her for their ends. Or they would use Lapis to find Akito, because he could not hide from her, and place them both in the Artifact where they would almost surely lose their minds. 

But if she, Yurika, went as they demanded, maybe they'd be satisfied with her and leave Akito and Ines alone. She'd been the Human Imaging System before; she knew her way around the Artifact. If she agreed to help the Successors willingly in exchange for Lapis's safety and the release of the crew of the _Lilac_, it might be enough. And if it wasn't enough, well, she would make sure that she would be the one to die, not Akito and not Lapis. She would make sure the Artifact was never used for such evil again.

And in the twenty seconds it took the council of admirals to decide that they were in the midst of a real crisis, her mind had been made up.

******

When Minato opened her door a while later to go down to the cafeteria for some food, she was surprised to find Ruri and Harry curled up outside in the hallway. She took one look at their tearstained faces and couldn't help but smile a little. 

"Come on, you two," she said quietly, shaking them awake and helping them stand. In their groggy state it was quite easy for her to relocate them to the bed and couch in her room, where they both immediately fell asleep again. "These kids really need more sleep," she sighed, "They're too young for all this."

She made sure her liquor cabinet was locked tightly, then left, shaking her head sadly.

******

It was a tense few hours while the crew of the Nadesico waited for Akatsuki's shuttle to arrive. Many had wanted Akito and Yurika to leave immediately, but Erina had insisted that they stay until Ines was with them. Yurika agreed, but more because she didn't have the heart to wake Akito and because she was anxious for a little sleep herself than because she felt like listening to Erina. 

Those who could sleep rested while they could. The rest, like Ryoko, spent the time pacing in various places on the ship, swearing mildly and cursing her inability to _do_ anything. The rest of the pilots sat along the bunks in their room, watching Ryoko pace furiously. None of them would have been in any condition to fight at all if Saburota hadn't decided to drug the drinks he handed them. He practically had to force feed Ryoko, but once she'd swallowed the bitter liquid he drank the rest of her glass and lay down at the foot of her bed. That way, if she woke up before he did she couldn't go anywhere without him knowing. 

******

Because most of the crew was asleep in unknown places, the only ones present to meet Akatsuki and Ines were Erina, Admiral Fukube, and Gort. Akatsuki didn't much care. He had things to discuss with those three and it would probably make it easier to make a decision regarding Lapis without Tenkawa and Yurika to make a fuss over it.

_Deadline: 60 hours_

Aritomo glanced at the clock warily. Perhaps 72 hours had been too long a time to give Nergal. Oh well, it didn't matter anyway. Lapis shifted beside him, frightened but angry. In one small hand she clutched a little Gekigangar figurine; the other gripped the edge of her seat as if she feared it would disappear out from under her. Aritomo shot her a look. She just stared back at him with the blank golden gaze that was more unnerving than a glare ever could have been.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, keeping her voice as blank as her face. _Like Ruri_, she thought vaguely, _What would she do?_

"Because the government has become corrupted. And change always starts with a rebellion."

Lapis blinked. She hadn't really been expecting an answer, but this one shocked her. "How is the government corrupt?"

"They've gone soft," Aritomo scowled. "Come on. It's time to go."

Lapis stood quietly. She wanted to resist them with all her heart, but she was too afraid. So she did what she was told, like she always did, even though inside she was seething with rage and thoughts of revenge.

******

"What's going on?" Yurika asked as she was ushered into a small but well-lit room, Akito and her "guards" trailing in her wake. Akatsuki, Erina, and Ines were already there.

Akatsuki looked past her, at the two young guards. "You can wait outside," he said.

"They wanna be _alone_," one nudged the other as they disappeared and shut the door, snickering. Ines and Erina rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"When do we run and how?" Akito cut right to the chase, choosing to ignore the boys completely.

"Ruri suggests you take the Nadesico A and lead the C on a merry chase through enemy territory." Akatsuki smiled, which made him look more crazy than happy. "But there's something we need to talk about first."

"Lapis," Yurika guessed sadly.

"Exactly. Erina?"

Erina stood up. "We're not going to trade you three for Lapis Lazuli. That means that they will use her connection to you to take you by force, Akito. You ruined their last operation-- they don't want it happening again. And since we can't use _you_ to get to Lapis..."

"It's not an equal connection," Akito snapped impatiently. "She shares my thoughts but I don't share hers."

"Well, isn't _that_ convenient."

"You can sit down, you know," Akatsuki commented in mild amusement. Erina gave him a condescending look and remained on her feet.

"At first we thought their threat to separate you and Lapis was a bluff. However, Ines assures me that it is possible and, more importantly, tells me that she knows how to do it herself."

Akatsuki cut her off with gesture. "Dr. Fressange, your turn."

"It's so basic it's almost embarrassing that I didn't see it before." Ines sighed. "Lapis was genetically engineered on a level that completely clouded anything attempted up until that point. Nergal scientists used some genetic samples they had from two of the A-class jumpers-- that's you two," she looked pointedly at Yurika and Akito, "In an attempt to, well, breed more jumpers, in essence. But that wasn't all. A majority of her DNA was replaced with someone else's. You see, they didn't just want A-class jumpers, they wanted A-class jumpers who could become completely compatible with the units they were jumping. They wanted more electronic fairies."

"Ruri," Akito said needlessly. Ines nodded. 

"She's a clone," Erina remarked, "So it should be easy for the Successors to separate the links she has to Akito by replacing them with Ruri's."

Yurika's head snapped up. "She's a _what_?"

"That's why Omoikane accepted her so easily." Ines explained sympathetically. "In a chemical sense, she is the same as Ruri."

"Of course, we'd be working on this end of things," Erina commented. "But we have the original map of Lapis's genes. It will take a while to match it against Akito's gene map, but once that's done it'll be relatively easy to identify the genes that make up their link and sever the ties."

"Whose genes are you going to use to replace mine?"

"Yurika is the most likely candidate, because the genes involved are the ones affected by the nano-machines." Erina answered.

"You mean to tell me," Yurika began slowly, "That you want us to go through and change Akito's cells so that he and Lapis are no longer connected."

"That's right."

"You want to take an already traumatized little girl who's been kidnapped and rob her of the presence she grew up with?!" 

Erina's eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't put it that way. But we're at war. There are always sacrifices in war-- you two should know that better than anyone."

"Absolutely _not!_" Yurika exclaimed.

"Yurika, please understand," Erina said, and for once she seemed sincere. "There is no other way. I know you don't want to traumatize the girl, but they could use Lapis to channel a jump through the future that Akito knows. We can't let them have the A-class jumpers. _Any_ of them. None of us would be safe if they had you three."

"Shoulda known you'd be looking out for yourself," someone muttered. The four people in the room looked up to see Yukina, Jun, Mayumi, Megumi, and Minato crowded around the now open door.

"How the hell did you get by?" Akatsuki asked, too tired to really care.

"We flashed some skin and they let us right through," Minato smiled sweetly.

"I see." Under any other circumstances he would have cared more, but as it was he should have known better than to try to keep anything secret from these people. This had to be the nosiest crew in existence. 

"But since we're here, can we sit down?" Jun asked plaintively. Akatsuki waved his hand dismissively and took a long drink of his coffee.

"How much did you hear?" Erina asked in suspicion.

"Pretty much everything," Mayumi replied.

"And it figures that all Erina would care about is making sure she has the trump cards up _her _sleeve," Yukina's comment lost much of the bite when she pushed Jun down into the remaining chair in the room and then settled primly in his lap, much to Jun's embarrassment. The others settled for the floor or the armrests. Erina was not amused by any of it.

"We have to look out for ourselves before we can look out for anyone else."

"Does that count as evil, or just twisted?" Megumi asked.

"Look, you selfish twit..."

"Do it," Akito interrupted suddenly, making everyone pause to remember the actual topic of their conversation. "Lapis is strong. She can handle it."

"Akito..." Yurika began, split between anger, understanding, and her own desires. "She'll be so lost by herself."

"I trust her."

"There is one thing I think we can pull off," Ines began slowly, coming out of a thought-induced daze. "If Ruri was correct, and Lapis knows what Akito knows through his dreams, then if we could hypnotize Akito perhaps we could reach Lapis. At least to warn her. At any rate, it would be worth a shot."

Akito and Yurika looked at each other, then turned back to Ines simultaneously.

******

Lapis watched uneasily as they hooked up the tubes to her arms. She didn't really know what they were doing, but she saw the Artifact in the corner of the room and knew she would end up inside it sooner or later. Her fears were strong and pounding in her chest, but suddenly they seemed to be giving way to another feeling-- exhaustion. She hadn't gotten much sleep in the past few days, and it was finally catching up with her. Catching up quickly, too, from the feel of it. Her vision was slowly fading to black while her eyelids drooped visibly.

"What's wrong with her?" one of her captors asked.

"Damn, she's fainting," the other answered. "Stop the procedure until we can stabilize her vitals."

"Well, at least we won't have to use so much anesthesia on the kid now," someone commented manically.

Then the voices disappeared, replaced by fuzzy white cloud-like things. Only when she saw the figures coming out of the mist did she realize what was going on.

******

"Yurika! Yurika!" a soft, hissing voice prodded her out of dreamland. Yurika sat up, instantly alert. 

"What?" she asked sharply, blinking away the sleep.

"We were supposed to hypnotize Akito, not you!" Erina snapped impatiently.

"Sorry."

"It's all right." Ines assured her with a tight smile. "Put on the VR helmet-- quickly, I don't know how long he's going to stay under."

"This will really let us go inside Akito's head?" she asked as she pulled the visor down over her face. Ines nodded the affirmative, and Yurika shook her head sadly. "Why didn't I know about this program years ago?"

"Good question," Erina muttered, pulling her visor down as well.

******

When Ruri woke up, she felt very young, very naive, and most of all, extremely stupid. Crying or getting drunk wasn't going to help anybody. If they were going to war, they were going to war, and the only thing she could do now was throw herself into preparation for it and push aside the pain for the time being.

"Harry," she said, shaking him awake. "Come on. We have things to do."

"Right, Captain, he said blearily, rising and walking vaguely in the direction of the door. Ruri took his arm and led him to Minato's sink, splashing cold water on his face until he was coherent.

"Get ready to link up with Omoikane," she instructed when he stopped staring at her blankly. "When Akito and Yurika escape, we're going to have to chase them."

"Okay, I'll..._what?_" Fully awake now, he stared at her like she had lost her mind. "What are you talking about?"

"I have a feeling that Yurika will be hijacking the Nadesico A. Nergal will have to send us out to catch her."

Harry blinked twice. "This is one of those things I'll understand when I'm older, right?"

"No," Ruri answered, "I'll explain it to you on the way. Hurry up."

******

"I'm a clone?" Lapis whispered, eyes going wide. The misty surroundings had faded into a playground, something Lapis had created to comfort herself. Even now, she kicked at the imaginary gravel nervously. She had known she wasn't like any other children because she didn't have any parents, but it had never occurred to her that she might be a clone. How stupid of her.

"No!" Yurika and Akito said at the same time, each taking one of the girl's hands protectively.

"Not exactly." Ines tried to look kind, but she knew she was scaring the poor girl witless.

"A composite. Many of your genes are copies of Ruri's." Erina took over; she was tired of everyone trying to be tactful about the situation. She was also ticked that Lapis couldn't tell them where she and the crew of the _Lilac_ were being held; the Successors had taken as many precautions as possible. "But many of them are Akito's genes and Yurika's genes. Mostly Akito's. Nergal wanted another Ruri but they had to be sure you could be an A-class jumper, too."

"Erina..." Yurika began in warning, though she really couldn't put her finger on what exactly she was warning the other woman of.

"That's not the point." Ines glared at Erina for taking away her job of explaining everything and turned her attention back to Lapis. "You aren't a clone, but your body is close enough to Ruri's that I think I can replace the genes that make up your link to Akito. You can be your own person now, Lapis, and Akito can be his."

_My own person?_ she thought in puzzlement. _But all I am is a copy of someone else._

Akito heard the thought, and knelt down in front of her. "Lapis, everyone is a copy of someone else," he whispered. "Every child is a mixture of their parents. Your situation is just a little unique."

Lapis frowned. "Then... does that make you my father?"

Akito's eyes widened. "Well, yes, in a way," he said slowly, mind reeling, "I guess it does."

"We haven't got much time," Erina said suddenly, interrupting their hushed conversation. "But if we don't do this now, the Successors are going to do it later-- after they have Akito."

"Erina!" Yurika said again.

"It's all right," Lapis interrupted. "Do what you have to."

"Are you sure?" Yurika reached out to touch her shoulder, realized she couldn't, and stepped back.

Lapis smiled quietly. "I'm sure."

Akito stood. "Let's go," he said, and the world melted.

******

"This is going to take a few hours," Ines warned Yurika, "And both of you are going to feel extremely disoriented afterwards. I've already talked to Akito, but he knows what to expect."

Yurika looked over at Akito, eyes closed, on the bed next to hers. "I understand," she said.

"It's going to feel very strange, Captain," Ines continued gently, "I don't know how deeply you're going to be affected. There is a chance that you and Akito may end up in the same symbiotic relationship he and Lapis experienced-- I don't think it will happen, but there is that possibility."

"Ines, we haven't got a lot of time," Yurika said gently, "I'm more worried about Lapis losing her connection to Akito than my gaining one; but besides, if we don't hurry then it will all be in vain anyway."

Ines smiled in spite of herself. She had never truly taken the time to realize how mature Yurika had become over the years. Age had mellowed her.

"Besides," the admiral continued, "Akito and I already have a bond that can't be broken no matter what! We're tied by the red strings of Fate!"

Or not. 

Ines sighed and looked up at the clock. Omoikane had finished running its comparisons of the three gene maps in the hour and a half it had taken to prepare for the surgery. The surgery itself was a delicate process, especially since they only had a vague idea of what to do. They were looking at another six hours here, minimum, even with Dr. Tani running the procedure. Time was flying by so quickly...

She turned quietly and nodded at the two scientists who were doubling as Tani's nurses. She would have liked to been there to oversee the surgery, but there were a hundred other things she had to do and only a few hours to do them. She was suddenly very, very thankful she had slept the entire shuttle ride up, and equally glad that Akatsuki had invested in gourmet coffee.

******

"It's too far, Captain!"

"It's not that far, Harry," Ruri said absently, trying to calculate exactly how far _was_ too far. "I could scan the Lunar Base by myself from here. With you helping, it's entirely plausible to scan all the way to Mars."

"But how good of an answer are you gong to get?"

"It won't be the best quality, no, but it will still be far better than anything they've given us up until this point."

Harry sulked quietly. "What are the JF forces _doing?_ There's another war going on and they're _missing_ it."

******

When Mayumi reached the bridge, she was surprised to see Harry and Ruri interacting as they always had. She hovered in the doorway for a moment, unsure of what to do. She didn't really have a job, per say, except to fill in for Harry. After a short exchange with the boy, Ruri turned and motioned Mayumi into the dome with them.

"You'll be completely in charge of the Nadesico's operations for a time, Mayumi-san," Ruri told her. 

Mayumi blinked. "But... I've never worked with the Nadesico C before, Captain," she argued. "What about Harry?"

"Harry will be here with me," Ruri motioned at the windows surrounding the dome. "We're going to try to scan the Lunar Base from here, and if we can, the space surrounding the Martian ruins. Besides, the ship is still in quarantine. All you'll need to do is make sure we don't crash into the ocean. Omoikane will help you."

Mayumi bit her lip and bowed, taking her place in Harry's dome with some misgivings. _Omoikane? _she asked as she touched the console hesitantly. 

_Hello,_ Omoikane said.Mayumi couldn't have been sure, of course, but it seemed like a cold greeting to her.

_Omoikane, I really need your help so that the Captain won't have any distractions. Can we cooperate for now?_

_A-OK_. Windows flashed with little mini-flags and banners. Mayumi smiled lightly, placing both hands firmly on the console in front of her to explore this new ship.

_Deadline: 42 hours_

Lapis did not wake even after Akito's surgery was done. She had never felt so lost or alone in her entire life. Akito's emotions and thoughts, even the disturbing ones, were a comfort to her, and she would give almost anything even to have his haunted dreams back. The sense of emptiness, of being hollow, was so overwhelming and terrifying she could not find the words to describe it, even to herself. Dr. Fressange and Ms. Won had described to her what to expect as best they could, but she had never known anything different, and could not even begin to understand until now. She realized a great many things while lost in her personal hell, many of them painful. There were times when she sincerely wished to die. But there were other realizations, too. She understood why human beings desired love and acceptance; she understood why _she_ wanted love and acceptance. 

It was this understanding that saved her from despair, in the end. Though the feelings were not as concrete, and not as powerful as before, she found that if she drew up Akito's happy memories the hollow feeling began to recede. Moving farther on that line, she found herself pulling up every memory imaginable from her brief time on the Nadesico. Even remembering the time when Harry had obnoxiously snatched Akito's credit card from her fingers filled her with a strange sort of happiness. She didn't need Akito's constant presence to prove she existed. She didn't need his memories to prove that she could feel. She had been making her own memories for so long, and she hadn't even realized it until Akito had gone. She found deep within herself that craving to make more such happy memories. She wanted to intertwine her life with those around her, to consider them her loved ones, to feel _their_ joy and pain as she had once felt Akito's and, in a more distinctly separate way, still did.

The Successor's first clue that something was wrong was when the three scientists in charge of finding Tenkawa Akito entered Lapis Lazuli's mind, expecting to follow the genes they themselves had altered, only to discover a laughing little girl who ran just ahead of them, taunting them all the way. They were in her mind, and she made what had been her hell into theirs, forcing them through thick metaphysical marshes as she literally burned the bridges in front of them.

******

When Dr. Tani finally revived Yurika and Akito after hours of grueling, mind-numbing, painstaking nanosurgery, he was so exhausted that he could barely walk himself, much less help his groggy patients anywhere. His nurses, tired as they were, weren't much help either. He insisted that they stay and rest in the infirmary as long as they could, before collapsing on one of the other hospital beds himself. He'd expected Ines to show up at some point to see if things had worked, but the blonde woman was nowhere to be found.

******

Yurika and Akito obeyed Dr. Tani's order until he fell asleep. They were disoriented, both of them, and exhausted to no measure. But they couldn't stay in those white rooms, with the glass walls that offered no privacy. In unison, they slipped off the white hospital sheets and made their way to the door of the infirmary. The nurse on duty at the front desk, the only one who was still awake, tried vaguely to question them. But with everyone else asleep there was no Dr. Tani to refute Yurika's insistence that they were allowed to leave. Too tired to argue much, the nurse finally let them go.

After tiptoeing softly out of the room, Yurika took Akito's hand and practically dragged him back towards her quarters. As Ines had predicted, replacing Akito's genes with hers had had strange consequences on her own psyche. The link was not as strong as she had expected--or secretly wished for-- but it was there, and it pulsed beneath her skin, pounding in her veins. She felt his presence with heightened senses; his emotions whispered at the edge of her mind-- unintelligible but still unmistakably _there_. After so long, after so much had happened, the comfort of his nearness was staggering.

They were inside before the doors finished opening; Yurika didn't even bother to turn on the lights or turn down the sheets. Her elation had set her adrenaline pumping, but her second wind had pretty much burnt itself out. Akito kissed her once as they sank down onto the bed-- asleep almost instantly and wrapped in each other's arms.

******

"It's almost time, Ameko. You ready?"

"Remmy," she covered his dark hand with her own pale one, "I've been ready for this since my father first told me her story." Ameko stared up at him through a wash of black hair. "Do you think she'll really come, Remmy? I see her in the memorial every week, but she doesn't seem real to me. Like a doll, a story my father told to give us hope when everything else had died. Was she ever real? Is she really brilliant enough to help us? Will she come at all?"

"She'll come." Remmy declared firmly, his brow wrinkling with conviction. "She has to. As for the rest, we just have to believe in her. We have to stop this cycle."

Ameko smiled wanly, closing her fingers tightly around his. "I know."

******

"Of course I'm sure," Yoshio countered her crossly. "It's all there. Just put the program through the compiler in the VR equipment and it will create the environment for you to visualize."

Ines still wasn't convinced. She had worked on those codes for two days and had come up with nothing, yet Yoshio had them for even less time and had figured out the command codes and set up a compiler for them. But then again, she had no reason not to believe him except for her own pride. Sighing, she glanced down at the file he was sending. It was massive; she would probably have to make use of most of Omoikane's backup systems to run it. Erina would positively flip out.

Ines smiled slightly. All the more reason not to tell Akatsuki and his little helper what she was doing. 

******

"We are _running out of time!_" Aritomo stormed, pacing back and forth in front of the lab. "What the hell is wrong with everyone?"

"Isn't it obvious?" a considerably calmer voice said, and a large man with graying hair and beard emerged. "Nergal has beaten us to the punch. The little girl isn't going to help you find Tenkawa Akito."

Aritomo turned a mottled purple. "If you had done as I asked, then we would already have him."

"Calm down," Jackht answered sharply. "No opportunity presented itself. Or would you rather I had blown all our cover and lost the girl as well? At least now you have a jumper to use in your project, whatever evil you happen to be scheming."

"A jumper who has never made a single jump by herself." Aritomo said bitterly. "This is wonderful." Suddenly, he whirled around and motioned to one of the guards he'd placed at the lab entrance. "Go get some of those JF fools," he ordered. 

"Sir!"

"Now, now," there was a cocking sound and Aritomo turned back to the admiral, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun. "The execution is not to happen until _after_ your New Order has begun. There doesn't need to be any unnecessary killing."

Aritomo hissed, and suddenly there were three guards holding revolvers to Jackht's head. "Threats like that are sure to make you the first to die," he told the older man, who didn't move.

"Even if they shoot me now, _you_ won't be alive to appreciate my death," the admiral assured him, pausing for effect.

"Gentlemen, let's keep our heads," another voice broke in. "There is still much to do."

Jackht put his gun away and turned to follow the new voice. "You only have my cooperation while my men live."

"I'm well aware of that."

******

Akito woke in the middle of the night to the sounds of soft crying. He tightened his hold on Yurika's shaking frame and she froze immediately, her sobs dying away though her tears did not.

"Yurika," he said, and she turned in his arms, burying her face in his shoulder and soaking it with her tears. "Yurika, what's wrong?" he asked quietly. She had never done anything like this before-- she had always dreamed with a smile on her face. She rarely ever had nightmares, either.

"I love you." the words were muffled but he felt her lips against his skin. "I love you so much."

Akito kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too."

She relaxed against him then, tracing the line of his arm with her own hand, twining her fingers in his. He bent to kiss her and she lifted her face to meet him, tears forgotten, and wrapped her legs around him as they moved together, discovering each other again with the intense fervor that only years of forced separation could have provided.

******

"Got them!" Akatsuki announced triumphantly, slapping the tabletop gleefully as Erina read over the contents of the screen. "It's the official declaration of war."

"I still don't see why you're so happy about it," Erina sniffed, sipping her tea.

"Because I don't have to tread lightly anymore. Now that those old busybodies in the JF have made up their minds, we don't have to stall for them."

Erina closed her eyes primly. "You were never going to stall for them anyway. You just wanted to make the situation desperate enough to get Akito to agree to that surgery."

Akatsuki grinned. "That's why you're not the President, Erina. You think too simply."

Erina shot him a death look.

"Of course I needed Tenkawa to be an autonomous unit again. But I also needed the JF to declare war."

"Are you still planning to overthrow the Joint Peacekeeping Forces? That's the most insane idea you've ever had."

"What good is power if you don't _use_ it?" Akatsuki crossed his arms behind his head. "Taking over UE was too easy. No challenge in a merger."

"Don't tell me you're just going to wait for the JF to destroy itself and then move in to pick up the pieces. The Jovians will never allow that." 

"You never know what the future will bring, Erina."

"Oh...go crash your Aestivallis!" Erina shouted, standing. 

Akatsuki grinned. "I plan on it."

******

"So let me get this straight," Yukina moved anxiously around behind Jun, trying to get his attention. "You don't know what our orders are or where we're going and you hate piloting with a passion, but you're walking towards the hangar, not the bridge. Are you lost or just stupid?"

"Yukina!" he wheeled around to face her. "Sometimes you do things because you have to do them, not because you want to! If you live life so spontaneously then someday you'll just burn out. That's why we have rules."

"Yeah, well if all you do is follow the rules, then you never do anything great!"

"Really," he stopped dead in the hallway, "And what does the great Shiratori Yukina suggest we do to will this battle?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Yukina smiled, and Jun was suddenly very, very afraid. The last time she'd said that, he'd ended up serving drinks in a miniskirt.

******

"This is it..." Megumi whispered, shutting her eyes tightly. She had hated the Jovian War, even before she discovered that the Jovians were human. And now, they were fighting their own. The JF Council had ruled that the Martian Successors were to be terminated at any costs. "Why do we have to kill each other?"

"If it bothers you that much, you should leave," Minato said suddenly. Megumi's eyes snapped open.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Minato's face was hard and set. "You'd take pity on the black plague if it wiped out your town."

Megumi frowned. "That's a little harsh, Minato."

"No, it's not. We lived through the Jovian War. People died who shouldn't have died. People lived who shouldn't have lived. One of the ones who should have died is out there right now, plotting some project so terrifying that Akito named it 'Doomsday.' He supported a regime that killed an innocent man to _prevent peace_. We fight so we can gain peace at last, and all the ghosts may finally rest."

Megumi's eyes narrowed. "I see. Didn't Akito teach you anything? Vengeance is not the answer, Minato. Condoning a war because _you_ want revenge on _one man_ is _not_ justified!"

The two women stared each other down, each refusing to be wrong. Mayumi sank down deeper in her seat between them and wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into.

******

When he finally slept again, Yurika opened her eyes once more. He'd rolled over on his back with a soft snore, leaving her shoulders exposed to the cool air. Yurika carefully eased off the bed, straightening the sheets around him when he stirred. 

She couldn't bear to kiss him good-bye for the fear that he might wake up again, so instead she bit her lip, blinked back her tears, gathered her clothes, and fled the room.

******

"Captain!" Ines exclaimed as Yurika turned the corner. The latter had successfully managed to avoid everyone else as she crept down the halls of the Nadesico, but as she neared her final destination she had grown careless. "Are you all right? Did everything go as planned."

"Yes!" Yurika squeaked. "Yes, it did. Akito is fine; I hope Lapis is as well." _I'll be finding out soon enough..._

"I'm sure she is," Ines grinned excitedly, taking her arm and pulling her aside. "Captain, do you remember how you asked me once to find out why you couldn't sense Jun's jump?"

"No..." Yurika replied, slightly puzzled, but Ines continued anyway.

"It's simple-- he wasn't using the Artifact."

"What?" Yurika demanded sharply. "How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure why Erina's injection mixed with his bloodstream in such a unique way, but simply speaking, his jump didn't go through the Artifact. Maybe that's why he was unconscious for so long."

"But what about Akatsuki?"

Ines shook her head. "The injection was different. I suspect Erina was leaning heavily on the Artifact's capabilities the first time. The second time, with Jun, she was using her own understanding to keep the drug from knocking the test subject out."

"I don't understand."

Ines smiled, showing as much excitement as she had ever shown. "But that's not the most extraordinary thing!' she announced. "Mr. Yamasaki and I have been working on it for days now, and I think it's entirely possible to construct a new Artifact."

"A second Artifact?" Yurika asked, awestruck. "Is that wise? Is that even possible?"

Ines shrugged. "He's done preliminary tests already and nothing catastrophic has occurred."

Yurika didn't really think creating a new Artifact was the wisest of decisions, but Ines would continue her work with or without Yurika's approval and the results, if the scientist was successful, could prove extremely beneficial in expanding the use of boson jumping, not to mention solving the problem of shutting down the transportation network when an enemy gained control of the Artifact. 

So Yurika shrugged and nodded her assent. "But Ines-san, before you begin such a big project, you should get some rest. After all, you and Akito are going to be on the Nadesico A tomorrow. You can start your work there, but only if you get some sleep now." The two women looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"The three of us will be on the Nadesico A," Ines asked in a tone that was not quite a question. Yurika looked blank for a second, confused, then smiled.

"Of course. We three; all of us." She laughed. "So get some rest, Ines-san! We've got some Successors to wreak vengeance on and we don't want to miss it for the world."

And with Ines's agreement, they parted ways. Yurika wondered vaguely if she would ever get the chance to apologize for lying to her loved ones. But she couldn't think like that, or she was doomed to fail before she had even begun.

******

Ines watched Yurika walk quickly down the hall, doubts and hesitations plaguing her mind. An warning bell was going off in her head, but she didn't know what it was for.

Yurika turned sharply and entered the VR room that Ines herself had just emerged from. What in the world did she need in there? Almost unconsciously, her feet began to move her back the way she had come. Suddenly, blue light began to flood out from under the door. Ines's eyes widened. 

"Captain!" she cried, regaining control of her feet and racing back to the VR room-- but it was too late. By the time she got the door open, Yurika was gone.


	14. The Humanity And the Lack Thereof

PART THIRTEEN:  The Humanity [And Lack Thereof]

"_That's the dumbest formation I've ever seen,"_ Harry blinked twice. "_Am I missing something, Captain?"_

Ruri also blinked in puzzlement_. "No... that _is_ the dumbest formation ever."_

Harry and Ruri's search, which had stretched well into Martian territory before becoming too inconsistent to interpret, was complete. However, it did not make any sense.

_"They left that whole spot completely deserted_," Harry began, tracing the blank space on the 3D model with his finger. 

_"They left their rear flank completely deserted,"_ Ruri corrected mildly. _"The Jovians could wipe them out without even trying."_ Omoikane brought up the information the JF Council had sent them and overlaid the maps on top of each other. All together, this supplied an almost complete chart of the inner solar system. Ruri pointed to the Jovian fleet, massing above the Red Storm on Jupiter. 

_"All they'd have to do was navigate the asteroid belt and then blow the Successors out of the sky from the back."_ Harry exclaimed. _"And Mars is on the other side of the solar system, so there's a clear blasting zone to the moon. That's too stupid even for _them_."_

_"The Jovian fleet is still two days out..."_ Ruri murmured to herself. "_I wonder_..." 

_"What are they planning?"_

_"The Successors must be counting on the fact that the Jovians won't get there in time. And according to Aiphis's records, Doomsday starts... in 31 hours."_

_"But... I thought Doomsday was going to destroy everything."_

"_And they're so determined to have the A-class jumpers..."_ Ruri continued, ignoring him.

_"Captain?"_

_"They're going to jump a fleet into the gap," _she announced with sudden certainty. _"They're going to bring in reinforcements from somewhere."_ Her mind flew back to the big Nadesico time-mix-up. They had just assumed that all those ships were on _their_ side, but how many of those lost ships only wanted an escape from the limbo they were imprisoned in? If the Successors brought them back, how willingly would they turn on Nergal and the JF? The Jovian vessels certainly owed more loyalty to Aritomo's cause than the JF peace.

"That's _Doomsday? A Successor fleet?"_ Harry asked skeptically. _"It seems a little tame, considering how terrified of it Tenkawa Akito is."_

_"You're right..."_ Ruri mused, wondering how many subplots and subtwists were involved here. She gently pulled out of Omoikane's operating system. "I'm going to find Ines. You keep track of the Jovians and the JF fleet, okay?"

"Right!" Harry cracked his knuckles, paused for a moment to be thankful that Saburota wasn't on the bridge to pester him, and dug in.

******

"I can't _believe _it! You actually had the _nerve_ to _drug _me!"

"He drugged all of us, you know..." Tsukai tried to calm her down, but it only seemed to make things worse.

"He _drug_ us all the way to bed, that darn Mickey," Izumi commented with a pleased snort. "The mouse is dragging the cat, for a change..."

"I don't think Saburota seems like much of a mouse," Tsukai said thoughtfully.

"Ne, Ryoko-chan, but how else would you be so...er, _alert_ if you hadn't gotten some sleep?" Saburota asked plaintively, fending off Ryoko's attempts to impale him with her fist as she backed him down the hallway.

"_Don't_ you 'chan' me, you pervert! And I don't care what the _hell_ your motives were!" Ryoko yelled, the resounding thuds of bone meeting muscle interspersed between the words, "If you ever, _ever_ decide to do something that _stupid_ again, I will cut off your..."

"Watch it, Ryoko-san!" Hikaru jumped up to see over Saburota's shoulder. Ryoko suddenly found her face buried in the Jovian's chest as Saburota jumped forward.

"What the _hell..."_ she spluttered, pushing him aside, only to see Akito sweeping down the hall with slightly glazed, panicky look on his face. "What the hell...?" she repeated, hands dropping to her sides.

The pilots watched Akito practically sprint past them; but he had only gone a few steps before he had a full-on collision with Ines, who was coming the other way. 

"Where..."

"Gone!" Ines shook her head curtly, unable to meet his gaze. Even Ryoko shrank back a few steps at the bloody rage in Akito's eyes.

"_Damn it_!" he yelled, punching the wall so hard the cracking of his bones was audible.

"Akito, calm down--"

"I _knew _this was going to happen!"

"It won't help to go after her now," Ines grabbed his shaking arm and pulled him back the way she had come. "But there's something else we can do."

"Did we... miss something?" Saburota asked.

"Shut up!" Ryoko hissed, heading swiftly in the direction of the bridge. That seemed to be the only place she was going to get any answers around here.

******

Aritomo stared through the glass as Lapis's prone form. "It's a risky business," he commented. "She's never been tried as the Imaging System, and her mental state is incredibly unstable. At this point her value is limited to being bait. Our only option is to..."

"It seems we have an unexpected arrival," the other man cut him off. "The Sixsome reports that they have just escorted Misumaru Yurika to the jump area."

"What?" Aritomo's eyes widened as they scanned the report on the window that popped up. The one thing he hadn't expected was for Nergal to actually meet his demands.

The laughter grated at his ears. "Maybe you should give her a proper welcome."

In the corner of the room, Admiral Jackht's eyes were narrowed and hard. He turned and left the hall so silently that Aritomo was just as oblivious to his exit as he had been to his entrance.

******

**Ameko shuffled her feet nervously, feeling like her daughter Ailen standing in line at the grocery store. Remmy grabbed her shoulders to still her.**

**"There's still two minutes. But look at it this way-- at least she can't be late."**

**"I know," she smiled. "You should go now; they'll be looking for you soon."**

**Remmy sighed and kissed her cheek. "I know," he echoed her resigned tone, and then he was gone. Ameko turned back towards the vacant air in front of her, and began shuffling again unconsciously.**

******

"Why do you want me to come with you?" Akito asked tonelessly, the quick tap of his fingers against the table the only visible sign of his agitation.

"Because if you don't come with me you're going to do something rash and stupid and get yourself killed before anyone has a chance to convince you not to. Don't argue with me, you know I'm right."

"I'm not leaving them in the Sixsome's hands."

Ines sighed. "If this works, which I'm not totally sure it will, we'll end up coming back at the same instant we left. The other reason I want you to come is because boson jumping over the course of a few seconds is taxing enough. But we'll be jumping to the very beginnings of time as we know it, when the Artifact was first created. That's bound to put me out of the running for a while unless you're there to help me."

Akito just looked at her. Ines sighed again. He was simply too distracted to think things out as he should. Damn Yurika and all her stupid ideals. This was _not_ worth it. She placed the VR helmet in his hands, ignored their furious trembling, and looked him straight in the eye.

"The VR system is running a program right now. If Yamasaki did everything right, it should bring up a three-dimensional picture of the image we need to visualize. You can go and try your rash and assuredly suicidal rescue plans after we get back. No one will even know we've been gone."

"It's too late for that, Ines-san."

"Ruri!" Ines exclaimed, head snapping in the direction of the voice. The captain had been standing quietly in the doorway, waiting for them to finish.

"Omoikane told me what you've been doing," she explained, coming forward. "I thought you might want to see this."

She pushed a window in the direction of the ruffled scientist. Ines glanced over it.

"Are you sure you aren't missing anything?" she asked in puzzlement. "Their plan can't be that simplistic."

"Simplistic but effective," Ruri corrected. "If they pull a fleet out of the future to help them overthrow the JF, then they will be the ruling body in the future and have a fleet to send back in time to assure their rule."

Ines shook her head. "There's got to be something else..." Her memories of the Doomsday plan involved a lot more than an extended Successor fleet.

"We can't stop what we don't know is happening," Ruri answered. 

"That's not what happens," Akito said dully as Ruri and Ines turned in his direction. "No fleet comes. Not in the futures I've seen. There's just a huge surge of energy and that's the end."

"Will you tell us what _does_ happen then?" Ines said a tad impatiently. Akito heard the implications and turned the full force of his anger and worry on her.

"I would tell you if I _knew," _he snapped. "But every time that energy surge came I was sent back. There's nothing _after_ it to see; I've tried to jump there and couldn't."

Ruri looked at him closely. "Who dies in this future?" she asked quite suddenly. Akito, startled, blinked a few times before answering.

"What?"

"I asked you who dies in this future," Ruri repeated. "You've seen all the possible futures, so you must have seen this one. _Who dies?"_

Ines frowned slightly, trying to figure out what Ruri was up to. Akito had had enough of thinking and had given up the activity for the time being. "There's a pattern to the way the futures ended up," he said resignedly. "There are certain key events that trigger certain outcomes."

"That's not what I asked," Ruri persisted.

"Either Yurika or Lapis, maybe both, probably the crew of the _Lilac_," he said mechanically. "There have been some unexpected twists but the end should be the same."

"Unexpected twists?" Ines prompted.

"Yamasaki Yoshio is not at the Successor base, because he's in a Nergal lab on Earth," Akito explained. "I don't know why he's there or what happened to put him there, but that means that Aritomo will be directly overseeing the Doomsday procedure. Who dies depends on who he plans to kill or who happens to piss him off the most."

"You...don't know?" Ruri asked quietly, watching his tired face carefully. Akito shook his head, and her expression hardened. "'Unexpected twists?' Baka," her voice never changed but somehow her words took on more volume. "You only saw what would happen if _you_ made different decisions. You didn't see what would happen when the rest of us acted otherwise."

Akito looked away. "That occurred to me, but it's just wishful thinking. If Yurika gets her way and saves Lapis, she's going to die herself. If she doesn't succeed, both she and Lapis will get killed. And if she helps the Successors, then the rest of us are as good as dead. Those are the only outcomes left." 

"How can you be so sure?" Ruri countered. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe you saw the future for a different reason? Maybe there _was_ no possible way to save all of us and still stop Doomsday. But maybe by knowing what was supposedly inevitable, we added another possibility to the mix. You've already said that things you hadn't expected are happening. They're not happening just because they're following a different timeline than the ones you saw. They're happening _because_ you saw all the timelines and thought you could choose which future to follow. "

Akito just stared at her. "That's impossible..."

"Who did you think you were, trying to manipulate time? God? You never used to be so proud," she continued mercilessly. "All you've done is make things more painful for yourself. It's about time someone told you what an idiot you are."

Akito closed his gaping mouth, and they stared at each other in silence for a moment. Then a small smile touched his face, and even though every sane portion of his mind tried to crush them, he allowed some seeds of hope to take root once again. "I guess you're right. You always are, Ruri-chan."

"Not so much lately, Otoosan," she whispered, looking down at her feet.

"Ruri..." he was shocked. She'd never referred to him as a parent even though he and Yurika had asked her to early on.

"Baka," she said again, this time to herself. A slight blush touched her cheeks. "I guess we get stupider as we grow up."

Ines shifted slightly, bringing them both back to the situation at hand. She had sat gratefully to the side while Ruri had brought Akito back in line, but now she had to worry that Akito would begin to believe he _could_ save Yurika and Lapis and go off after them immediately. 

Ruri stood to leave; Akito turned back to Ines with an expression that pleaded with her to let him off the hook. Ines knew better. If everything went smoothly, they might not have to make any rescues at all. 

"Come on, Mister," she said, handing him a jumper's helmet. "It's time to go."

Akito stared at her for a moment, then glanced up at the door, where Ruri was looking back at him. Her expression never changed, but her head dipped ever so slightly in the nod that was all he needed. Turning back to Ines, he took a shallow breath and jerked the helmet over his spiky hair.

******

Aritomo could not hide his smirk when he saw the famous Captain Misumaru being dragged across the floor with leaden feet, trying desperately to shrink away from the hand that gripped her wrist. Even though Hokushin was dead, the Sixsome still terrified her. He was confused, however, by the fact that she had come alone. They had stated that their demands were non-negotiable. Still, one was all they needed, really.

Yurika saw him and stopped short, all the Sixsome's leader's efforts to move her closer failing miserably. Feeling in a much better mood, Aritomo instead moved to her.

"Misumaru Yurika, it's a pleasure to see you again," he chuckled. Yurika pressed her arms to her sides tightly to suppress the trembling of rage and fear. 

"It's Tenkawa Yurika," she corrected shortly. "I've come in exchange for Lapis Lazuli and the crew of the JF _Lilac_."

"Obviously," he returned. "You understand that we'll have to confiscate your method of transportation, of course."

Yurika stared at him for a moment, then reached up and pulled the TC from its chain around her neck. "Here."

_There went Plan A_, she thought, but she wasn't really surprised. That's why she had Plans B through F ready to go, and Plans G and H for extreme emergencies.

******

**The first thing Ines registered when the blue dots receded from her line of vision was a dark-haired, middle-aged woman clasping the blonde's hands in her own.**

**"Thank God!" she was saying, and anyone could tell that it wasn't just a figure of speech. "I thought for a moment you wouldn't come!"**

**"Who are you?" It was rude, yes, but Ines was very confused. If she had truly jumped to the beginnings of time, why was this perfectly normal-looking human being standing there speaking a language identical to her own?**

**"My name is Ameko. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ines Fresange."**

**Ines began to ask another question, but Akito interrupted her by stepping forward. **

**"I thought we were going to the past, Ines," he commented. "This looks like..."**

**"It is," Ameko confirmed. "This is the space battleship Nadesico. Well, sort of."**

******

"...And get the day crew back on duty-- we're on high alert, here, people!" Erina was ordering as the doors to the bridge opened. Ryoko took one look at the mad rush of crewmen dashing across the already crowded room and raised an eyebrow. There were miscellaneous windows everywhere, Harry was glowing so brightly that many of the technicians directly behind him had adopted shades, people were tripping over each other and jumping over any furniture sitting in their way, and Mayumi was freaking out at the helm. Minato was trying to help her, but she kept having to stop two teenage boys from looking up her skirt. Megumi was talking to someone, practically having to shout to be heard over the noise. And above it all, Erina was smiling brilliantly, in charge for once. 

Ryoko scanned the bridge for Ruri, alarmed when she couldn't find her. "Hey, what's the big idea...?" she yelled, but even her most piercing tone couldn't penetrate the din.

"Hello, boys and girls, it's time to get rolling!" an unusually cheerful voice called. Akatsuki appeared from somewhere, taking Ryoko by one arm and Saburota by the other. "We're going to war!"

"Hold on just one damn minute!" Ryoko snapped, pulling away from his grip. She marched over to Erina and turned the woman around. "Now there's something really strange going on and you're going to tell me what the hell it is..."

"Honestly, Ryoko, you should learn to control your... Mayumi!!" The ship lurched hard starboard.

"I'm sorry! I've never driven this thing before!"

"Erina!"

"Not _now_, Ryoko!"

"Erina, get these two hentai little boys off the bridge!"

"Hey, I'm man enough for you, baby..."

"There should be more respect for commanding officers aboard this ship!" (That from Tsukai.)

"Oh for heaven's sake, will you all just **_shut up?!_**" Megumi screamed. "No, no, sir, not you, please don't break the connection..."

"_Akatsuki!_" Ryoko tried another venue, "You have a lot of explaining to do!"

"True, true, we'll talk on the way, okay?" the chairman seemed much too eager to get to the Aestivallis hangar. Though considering the stress level on the bridge, that wasn't too surprising.

And then, suddenly, the pressure stopped. The noise and the shouting all ceased at once. Ryoko turned around to see what the hell was going on. 

******

Ruri surveyed the bridge coolly. "Harry-kun, stop scanning for the moment." she said, voice never rising. The light on the bridge dimmed considerably. "Take over the sysop. Minato-san, take over for Mayumi-san. Mayumi-san, you may take a break. Technicians, please return to your stations and close all unnecessary windows. All other personnel," she fixed her disturbing gaze on the two teenage boys who were now trying to look down Mayumi's shirt, "Please leave the bridge."

"Captain, I...." Ryoko began. Ruri turned towards her apologetically.

"All pilots please report to the Aestivallis hangar," she said. "Don't worry, Ryoko-san, it will all be explained, I promise."

"You heard the captain, Ryoko, let's _go._" Akatsuki grabbed her arm and dragged her off before anyone could make any more protests.

******

**Akito stared at the ground rushing past underneath them as Ameko explained what was going on. The lift they were on was barely big enough for the three of them, but according to Ameko it was the easiest way to get around the ship. The ship itself was nothing more than the raw shell of the Nadesico A-- Omoikane's presence was the only thing keeping the feeble craft operational. It had been placed in permanent dry dock after a catastrophic space battle, but Ameko hadn't seen fit to elaborate on the story much more than to hint that it had become the base of operations for a resistance movement. Right now she was delving into the finer points of some obscure scientific theory. **

**Ines was soaking it all up in that huge brain of hers, but Akito's mind was reeling and would have been even if he hadn't been distracted by thoughts of Yurika. Apparently they had _not_ jumped to the beginnings of time, but about 30 years in the future. And apparently the solar system had _not_ been destroyed in Doomsday, so at least something good had happened. Though judging from Ameko's sorrowful tones and worried face, she didn't consider it very good fortune. Akito couldn't blame her. He'd rather commit suicide than live in this woman's future; the Martian Successors had apparently been ruling all of known space for a good twenty-five years, and--according to Ameko-- making life hell for everyone opposed to their methods. **

**Ines was asking questions now. Akito let his mind wander. The one question pressing on his mind-- namely, who was alive and who had died, and where were the Akito and Ines of this time period-- had been swiftly set aside by the blonde scientist herself. "We have all the time in the world to go save people, Akito. Let's see what we can do to help here, okay?"**

**And she'd continued the interrogation where she'd left off, without bothering to see whether he really thought it was okay or not. Ameko, however, glanced back at him and frowned thoughtfully.**

**"You've actually hit on something I've thought myself." she said. "Instead of fixing this future, why not just stop it from ever happening? It's a sacrifice I'm willing to accept."**

**Akito was about to agree wholeheartedly, but Ines interrupted.**

**"But it's the past!" she said. "We can't change the past-- we can't stop what's already happened!"**

**"But that's just it!" Ameko threw them all to one side of the car as she lurched around a turn without checking her sped for an instant. "It's your _future_, and _our_ past. We can't change our past, but maybe you can change your future."**

**Ines shook her head. "It's impossible. If you've studied the Artifact then you should already know that!"**

**Ameko's gaze dropped. "I do know. Forgive me. I only hoped that you would tell me that I was wrong." Looking up again through a fringe of dark bangs, she smiled awkwardly. "In this time you are revered as the greatest scientific mind the world had ever known. But the Ines Fresange of this time has been in a coma for thirty years."**

**"The whole time?"**** Ines gasped. "What happened to cause a thirty year coma?"**

**Akito wondered a little morbidly why no one had taken her off life support, if that were the case. He wouldn't want to be a vegetable for thirty years.**

**Ameko blinked. "Daddy would have known, but he died a few years back. All he would say was that when the Artifact was destroyed, all the boson jumpers fell into unconsciousness and have never woken up."**

**"All of us?" Akito frowned. The only one who had ever wanted to destroy the Artifact that badly was Yurika.**

**Ameko nodded. "When Daddy was alive, we would visit you every Sunday," she smiled nostalgically, then shook her head and sighed.**

**"Wait a minute!" Ines cried. "What do you mean, 'when the Artifact was destroyed?!'"**

**Akito blinked. Good question.**

**Ameko was silent for a few moments as the lift settled down in front of what had once been the War Room. "Come with me. Remmy can tell you the rest."**

******

"Wake up, sleepy head!" a gentle voice broke through the blackness. Lapis blinked fuzzily, unable to shake the feeling that something was desperately wrong. Slowly the face above her came into focus.

"Yurika?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. She rolled over and reached for the teddy bear the admiral had given her, only to grasp thin air. Instantly, the sentimental dream dissolved into the barren room they had put her in, on the hard table that couldn't really even be deemed a bed. She turned back around. The dream had dissolved, but Yurika had not.

"Are you all right, Lapis?"

Lapis sat up instantly. "They want to bring a fleet from the future and take over everything and Admiral Jackht turned the whole ship over..."

"I know," Yurika stopped her. Suddenly, the guards in the doorway entered her line of vision and Lapis realized how painfully obvious all of that already was. Yurika jerked her head to the side slightly, causing her blue hair to slip over one shoulder. Lapis kept her head very still, but let her eyes flick in the direction Yurika had indicated. Admiral Jackht met her gaze briefly through the viewing window, nodded almost imperceptibly, and then turned away again.

Lapis didn't exactly know what that meant, but it was reassuring all the same.

******

**Remmy was an extremely tall, middle-aged man with dark skin and unruly hair. He had deep lines etched into his face, as if he had hardly ever laughed in his life. The way he and Ameko gently interrupted each other in their explanations made Akito positive they had been together for a very long time. And the way Remmy glanced protectively at her made Akito positive that they been married for most of that time as well. He found himself wondering if they had any kids. He would have liked to have had children.**

**Ines was freaking out. Akito glanced at her passively, then went back to observing Remmy and Ameko. He didn't know why the blonde woman was so upset. The whole thing made perfect sense to him.**

**Of course the Successors would be foiled in their plans to bring the fleet from the future. It was perfectly natural that Yurika had succeeded in destroying the Artifact. Forget all the paradoxes that caused, of course it was completely plausible. Of course the loss of the Artifact would cause horrendous reactions in the boson jumpers, the comas and the deaths. And it figured that without the advantage of superior boson jump technology to aid them, the JF would eventually fall to the Martian Successors. Of course the known universe would be plunged into a civil war over it; who ever gave up power without a fight? It was all a perfectly reasonable situation, but Ines had always been too concerned with the how and the why of things.**

**"How is it even possible to destroy the Artifact? If time and space mean nothing to it, then if it is there at all it must always be there," she mused. Remmy shook his head.**

**"We think that's the problem. It's a matter of fallacies. If it has existed, then it must always exist. But if it is destroyed, then it must not be there at all. Two contradicting statements, both of which are true. The system cannot handle it."**

**"What happens if the system can't handle it?" Ines asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.**

**"What has happened. There's an error, and the program starts over."**

**"Meaning that time itself starts over," Akito muttered. Of course. Yeah, that figured.**

**"Right.**** This is the end of time, for all intensive purposes. In a couple of millennia, we'll all be standing here having the same conversation again," Ameko commented mournfully.**

**"But the Artifact has been destroyed for over 30 years, am I correct?" Ines persisted. "If that's the case and your theories are right, why is the universe ending now instead of with the destruction of the Artifact?"**

**Remmy shifted. "We've theorized that the Artifact doesn't know it has a fatal error yet, because nothing illegal has been done. All the boson jumpers were put out of commission when the Artifact was destroyed, so no one has attempted a boson jump for 30 years. But by this point, the Successors have built up a new set of A-class jumpers. As near as we can calculate, in a few days they are going to try to jump their fleet to the past. They think that if they manage the jump from this side, they can still make it even though the Successors of the past failed. The second they try to work a boson jump, the Artifact will realize the error in its programming and start over."**

**There was silence while Ines processed what was going on. Akito sat up a little straighter in his seat. "This all sounds fine to me," he told them, "Except for one thing. If the Artifact is destroyed, exactly how can the Successors jump anywhere?"**

**Ameko looked at Remmy, whose gaze hung steadily on Ines's face. "Well, in graduate school, Ameko and I found a file of Ines Fressange's unpublished works. We used her findings and her description of the original Artifact to build a new one."**

**"Really?"**** Ines looked up with renewed interest. "It actually worked?"**

**Remmy nodded. "We thought that maybe we could oust the Successors with it, or travel to the past to find out what went on before the Artifact disappears from history. But we found something unexpected when we were reading over the final schematics."**

**This seemed to be some sort of cue, because Ameko brought up a window and began typing rapidly. After a few seconds, another window appeared, and what seemed to be a recorded message began to play. It was Ameko herself, smiling and talking about nothing in particular.**

**_"We've almost finished building the Artifact now,"_**** the recorded Ameko was saying. _"It's the greatest scientific breakthrough since the New Order was established, so Remmy decided we should record it_." The image smiled cheerily. "_Now at first..."_**

**Ameko fast-forwarded the tape. "... _so surreal_," the video Ameko said when the footage finally stopped again. "_We've found a recording buried in the Artifact's program. The exact same recording that I'm making now, but more. There's a lot of talking that's only barely decipherable, like someone left it recording and didn't realize it. I really only got good enough audio to hear one full sentence: 'How many times has this loop happened already_?'"**

**"At this point in the recording, Remmy discovered that I had indeed left the video camera running, so it had recorded us finding the file. That's when we began to wonder if it were possible that time has been repeating itself." Ameko closed the window.**

**"Our only evidence other than the tape is the fact that this file was not just randomly added to the Artifact somewhere-- it had been integrated into the program itself." Remmy cut in. "Someone consciously decided to program a video conversation into the Martian Artifact."**

**Suddenly, Akito laughed. "A message from a past life," he finally managed to choke out. No one else laughed, but he didn't seem to care. "How fitting. Of course it's true."**

**"Akito, snap out of it!" Ines hissed, but she was on the verge of hysterics as well. None of this was working out the way she had hypothesized, and it was seriously ticking her off. The Artifact _had _been created by a past civilization. It just so happened that the past civilization was also the future one, because apparently time was a circle and no one had thought to let her in on that little secret. She wanted to cry.**

**Akito stopped laughing abruptly. "I know what happens next," he said, "The Successors confiscated the new Artifact, and now you want the two of us to help you figure out how to stop it from starting time over."**

**Remmy grimaced. "Something like that."**

**"But what if this is all there is?" Akito snapped, all semblance of merriment disappearing instantly. "Maybe time is supposed to be a circle and human progression ends here. Do we have the right to mess with the nature of the universe?"**

**"There is an eternal progression in nature." Remmy said quietly. "It is often circular, yes, but never the _same circle_. A plant, once dead, does not become the same plant over again. But we are caught in a loop, forced to die the same death, live the same pain, over and over again. We cannot progress, we cannot become anything better than what we are. We are stagnant, doomed to be dead from our births. It is not in human nature to be stagnant. It is human nature to want to live."**

**"Please." Ameko said suddenly, "Please, you must help us! My little girl-- she'll have her childhood torn away over and over again with no sense of purpose. I have to prevent that at all costs! That's why I asked you here; if anyone could find a way to break this cycle, it would be you."**

**Akito still looked unconvinced, but deferred to Ines. She was, after all, the scientific mastermind. If it was plausible, then she could find a way. **

**Ines looked up with bright, feverish eyes. "Tell me your plan."**

**Remmy looked sheepish. "Well, that's the problem. We haven't exactly got one."**

**Akito and Ines face faulted.**

****** 

"Harry-kun, prepare to leave Earth's orbit," Ruri sat soundlessly. "We're heading to the Martian front for now, Minato."

"Ne, Captain!" Ryoko's angry face appeared in a window from the hangar, where she was being piled none too gently into her Aestivallis. "What are you _doing?_ I want to know what's going on!"

"I don't know what's happening, Ryoko-san."

"Nani?!" everyone on the bridge turned to look at her. Ruri didn't blink.

"There are so many different reports on what Akito's Doomsday really is, and so many strange things are happening, that I don't _know_ for certain what is happening. We'll just have to trust Yurika on this one: sometimes we have to live for the present, not the future."

"Yeah, but Yurika's _gone!"_ Ryoko protested. "What are we going to do about it? _Ruri!"_

Ruri looked at the pilot for a moment. Suddenly a memory flew, unwelcome, across her mind. _It's Yurika and Akito! They're alive! You can't just _leave_ them there! Ruri!_

And for the second time, her answer was, "We'll leave it to him."

******

Ryoko whirled around to face the figure in black behind her. 

"Don't worry so much, Ryoko-chan," Akito's mouth twisted under the mask. "Don't worry about things you can't change."

Ryoko glared at him for a stunned moment, then slapped him. "Take that damn mask off," she snapped. "Who are you trying to impress, anyway?" She tore the black scrap from his eyes, expecting the emptiness she had been forced to accept in the past weeks.

Instead, she was rewarded with a genuine smile, of all things. He ignored her anger completely, taking back his mask and slipping it back on his face. "It will only be for a little while longer," he smiled again. "Let's go, Ryoko-chan. It will be like old times."

Ryoko recovered her composure. "Hardly, with that Gekigangar wannabe and that blonde idiot tagging along!"

"Who's tagging?" Saburota asked, suddenly at Ryoko's side. She punched him in the arm. "We're leaving."

"That's just what I wanted to hear!" Akatsuki's distorted voice shouted from his Aestivallis. "Let's go already!"

"That is a very strange man," Tsukai remarked, suiting up.

"No, you think?" Ryoko rolled her eyes.

"Only outside the box," Izumi commented heavily, rapping her knuckles against her Aestivallis.


	15. This Will All Be Over Sometime

PART FOURTEEN:  This Will All Be Over Sometime…

******

**"Ms. Fresange, are you getting all of this?" It was Ameko's nice way of asking her to pay attention. The blonde was staring off into space, only half-listening, but she nodded and motioned the other woman to continue.**

**Ameko sighed. "We think that the function we could change to break us out of this loop is in one of these areas." Three windows popped up with big red circles marking the indicated areas. "But we have no way to test our theories short of actually attempting a boson jump, which could very well wipe us out anyway. Now, if one of these variables has been tested before, chances are that Remmy encoded that into the program and we should be able to find it like we found the recording..."**

**Ines snapped her fingers. "I've got it," she announced. **

**Ameko jumped. "What?"**

**"Yurika jumped the Artifact into itself in an attempt to destroy it, which seemingly worked. But space has never meant anything to the Artifact, so why would that matter now? The Artifact hasn't been destroyed."**

**Ameko blinked. "But...but...but..."**

**"But it's not _there_," Remmy insisted, coming to Ameko's rescue. "If it's not destroyed, then where is it?"**

**"I suspect that it will be boson jumping into itself forever," Ines returned caustically. "Because for a boson jump to work, there has to be a departure and a destination. Be it a difference in time or a difference in distance, there must be a change in location. But my theory is that Yurika attempted to destroy the Artifact by jumping it to the exact location it was already. The result would be something like an infinite loop. Since the variables don't change, when the Artifact tried to run the program again it had to run the same jump. And then the variables still didn't change. The program is running still."**

**"But what about the condition of the boson jumpers?"**** Remmy asked, more as a devil's advocate than a skeptic.**

**"All boson jumps tax our strength to some degree, but since jumps usually only take a matter of seconds to complete, the effects aren't lasting. I suspect that the boson jumpers went into comas because of the constant activity from the Artifact."**

**Ameko's face lit up like the sunrise. "You _are_ the most brilliant mind of all time!"**

**For the very first time, Akito watched Ines flush in acute embarrassment. **

**"Well...." she said, "Well...never mind that. The important thing is, I don't believe that time starts over because of an error in a single Artifact, because the Artifact is perfectly capable of handling more than one jump at a time. Time must start over because putting two Artifacts into use at the same time causes an error."**

**Ameko's sunrise quickly set. "But that still puts us back where we started."**

**"No, it doesn't." Ines countered. "The solution is much easier now. All we have to do is write a code to manually break the infinite loop that Yurika caused, or destroy one of the Artifacts while simultaneously putting another one into use."**

**"Oh, is that all?" Akito said sarcastically.**

**"It's easier than it sounds. If Yurika is trapped in the loop with the Artifact, then she can change the coordinates of the jump to ones that we can supply her with."**

**Akito blinked before his face hardened. "If you think I'm going to let her be put in that Artifact again, you are desperately mistaken."**

**"Actually, Akito, this time you don't have a choice. By the time you get there, she'll already be in it."**

**Akito opened his mouth and closed it again. "You...tricked me!"**

**"Nonsense," she sniffed. "Think about it carefully and you'll see I'm right. All I've done is given you this extra time while we're here to pull yourself together, as I told you before."**

**Akito bared his teeth and sat back against the couch, crossing his arms over his chest. "Fine. You've found out what you wanted to know. Let's go back."**

**"One last thing," Remmy interjected. Akito shot him a death glare. "There is a chance that it isn't the Successors who activate the new Artifact. We can't be positive, but from reading Ines's journals, there's someone else who might come first."**

**Akito blinked in confusion, but Ines stiffened visibly. "Ai."**

**Ameko frowned. "I'm sorry."**

**"No, it's all right," Ines waved away her concern. "It's already happened-- I can't change it now. But it shouldn't be a problem as far as boson jumping goes. Two people guided me on my jump when I got here. Obviously, you two will just have to make sure that you use the Artifact that already exists, and don't start up the new one."**

**Remmy and Ameko looked at each other sadly. Then Remmy tore at the collar of his shirt, exposing a shimmering blue series of vertical lines that looked suspiciously like a bar code on the bare skin of his neck. "The Successors have the new Artifact, and we can't get to it because of these," he covered the mark once again. "They're identification stamps. But you don't have them, so you won't set off the alarms."**

******

Aritomo's smirk seemed to have become an indispensable part of his expression. Yurika wanted to punch him, but settled for planning revenge.

"Of course, you wouldn't _dream_ of trying to betray our good faith," he was saying, "But just in case, you should know that the entire holding area has been surrounded by a material that disturbs the frequencies of the boson retrospect particles, courtesy of Yamasaki Yoshio. It's called a bionet, and unless you are directly in contact with a person _and_ a certain amount of TC, you cannot jump them through it."

Yurika made sure her face did not change as she threw plans C through E out the window and made major modifications to plans B and G. 

"What is my guarantee that Lapis and the others will be released?"

"Well, technically there isn't one, but what use would it be to detain them once we've achieved our agenda? The only one we need is you, and chances are if we killed them you would cease to cooperate."

Yurika frowned slightly. "Let's get on with it."

******

_Doomsday: 28 hours_

"Coming up on the chulip, Captain," Minato reported.

"Are you sure it's wise to take them on by ourselves?" Megumi inquired. The Nadesico, being much faster than most other ships in the solar system and not tied to any specific fleet, would arrive at the battle scene long before the UE or the Jovian fleet.

Ruri was staring quietly out the main window. "No." She turned her gaze to Megumi's indignant one. "I don't know if it's wise to attack them ourselves. I don't even think it's wise to be boson jumping when the Successors have the Artifact. But we don't have much of a choice. We have to take out as much of the weakened fleet as we can. Hopefully the Jovians and Yurika can handle the rest."

"And if they can't?" Megumi persisted.

"Then we'd still have to do the same thing. Minato?"

"Hai, hai, leave it to me, Ruriruri," Minato cracked her knuckles. "Mayumi, you ready?"

Mayumi nodded, holding two bottles of water on a tray and carrying a stack of towels over one arm. 

"Then... let's go!"

Mayumi was the only one with a mundane enough job to have the opportunity to see the blinking light go on in the operations console. However, she didn't really feel like now was the time to report that one of the escape pods had been launched.

******

**The silence in the decrepit War Room was suddenly broken by the sirens that came crashing through the ship, accompanied by red flashing lights and a single window, the only sign of Omoikane's lingering presence. "****Battle**** Alert!"******

**The letters were replaced by a stern woman wearing dark glasses and no expression. Her skin was still smooth, but her complexion was pallid and her hair was a bright silver, giving her an ageless aura. "Pilots, please report to the hangar. All units, prepare for the incoming attack."**

**Ines started. "Was that...?" but she couldn't bring herself to believe that the woman she had just seen was little Ruri. Ameko and Remmy stood in unison, the former toying nervously with a small object that had suddenly appeared in her hand.**

**"We have to go," she said, and pressed the all-too- familiar disc into Ines' fingers. "You remember what to do?"**

**Ines's grasp tightened until the knuckles were white. She realized she was about to attempt the hardest thing anyone would ever ask of her. To knowingly put herself and Akito through more pain than imaginable. And yet...did she even have a choice? No. She knew what had to be done.**

**"Akito, we have to go," she said, meeting Ameko's shining eyes with a bitter resolve. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he sensed its significance and nodded tightly. **

**"There's jumping equipment in the lift outside," Remmy said. "If you use it, then you should be able to avoid activating the new Artifact even if you are inside it."**

**Ameko pressed the pads on her shoulders and was covered by a jumpsuit similar to that of an Aestivallis pilot. Remmy did the same, the tight suit covering him from neck to toe. Ines smiled vaguely, realizing how mistaken her seven-year-old memory had been. Her eyes scanned the now-familiar jumpsuit, stopping at the nametag that had not been visible on Ameko's earlier uniform.**

**_Yamasaki_**** _Ameko._ Yamasaki? Then "Daddy" was...**

**Ameko saw her staring in astonishment and smiled. "Thank you, Okaasan," she whispered. Ines's mouth dropped, but then they vanished completely.**

******

Lapis stared in horror at the scene before her. She wanted to run up and try to drag Yurika out of the Artifact, to break the stone shell surrounding her, but of course she couldn't. She was too weak to do anything but watch. If she had been stronger, then Yurika would not have had to sacrifice herself for Lapis's sake. Aritomo was shouting orders, but she couldn't hear them through the glass. In fact, she seemed to be trapped by an unearthly silence. When the hand suddenly clamped down on her shoulder, her scream was more from surprise than pain.

"You are watching one of the greatest events in history," a deep voice told her. "Greater than the empire of Alexander the Great, stronger than the rule of the Romans, more powerful than the pitiful United Earth coalition ever was. This is a New Order, and a new way of life."

Lapis wanted to ask if he'd practiced that speech, but she saw the glint of steel at his side and knew better than to insult and armed man.

"Who are you?"

"Kusakabe Haruki."

Lapis's eyes widened. "You... you're supposed to be incarcerated on the Moon!" This man was behind every catastrophe, disappointment, every obstacle she had ever faced.

"I would not leave such a grand plan in the hands of incompetent fools," he returned. "My men, while enlightened, are sadly still almost as ignorant as the JF usurpers. Only I and a select few can realize the full potential of what is happening here today."

"You really think that just because you can bring in extra ships for your fleet that you'll beat the Nadesico?" Lapis returned hotly, perhaps rashly. However, she was not prepared for the deep laughter that answered her accusation.

"You are as foolish as the rest," he chuckled. "This is not about something as petty as rulership over humans."

"What?"

"Come now, do you really think that these 'Successors' have any more right to rule than anyone else? Men are essentially flawed-- all they do is destroy the natural order of the universe."

Lapis got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "They aren't going to transport a fleet, are they?"

Kusakabe laughed. "Oh, if they used the coordinates they are now, then yes, they would transport _something_ from the future. But the coordinates that Ms. Misumaru is receiving are from me, and not from them."

"What are you planning?"

"Look," he pointed to the star map in the corner of the room. "Do you see how the Earth is passing Jupiter? And we on Mars are on the other side of the sun."

Lapis nodded, watching Kusakabe's calm expression warily. 

"With Mars and its ruins safely on the opposite side of the solar system, only the sinners will be destroyed. And the asteroid belt will shield this planet from the aftermath of the destruction of evil."

"_Destruction?"_

"When Earth plummets into Jupiter, the resulting explosion will take out the moon as well. And then Mars and its ruins-- the only true example of animate perfection-- will be free to rise from its oppression and give way to a universe governed solely by natural laws."

"You're kidding, right?" Lapis asked incredulously. Kusakabe's set face told her otherwise.

"It will be a glorious day for the New Order." he said euphorically.

She blinked. "That's so ridiculous it's almost anticlimactic."

For the first time, it hit Lapis full force that she was dealing with a truly insane man. To jump the Earth into Jupiter's path-- she couldn't be sure but wouldn't such a thing cause a chain reaction to destroy everything nearby, including Mars? _That_ was more like the Doomsday Akito had seen.

"Come on," he said roughly, shoving her forward and breaking her reverie. "It's time to go.

******

**"Nice of them to tell us where the Artifact _is_," Akito muttered as he yanked the suit up over his pants. **

**"It's on Mars, where it's always been," Ines returned vacantly, putting on her own suit as if in a daze, her motions hindered by the silver disc clutched tightly in her left hand.**

**"Convenient," Akito's voice was muffled as he pulled his cloak and shirt over his head. "Convenient that they had these things on hand, too." He tossed the pile of black fabric back in the lift. **

**Ines looked up suddenly. "Seems strange that they would have them at all, if they never expected to use them."**

**Akito had a suspicious feeling about the whole thing, but as of yet he couldn't put his finger on it directly. Besides, he had gathered from the small bits of the conversation he had been paying attention to that they would be going to get Ai. He would have a chance to save her. That alone made him set aside his unease for the time being. **

**Ines shook her head, pulling the helmet neatly over her hair. It was outdated equipment, but that was probably because all the advanced stuff would be hooked up to the new Artifact. "Ready?" she asked, looking up. It gave her a start to realize that she recognized the being in front of her. With the black and silver reflective helmet and the cables and connections stuck in a seemingly haphazard fashion over a white jumpsuit turning yellow with age, she could tell it would be easy for a confused and terrified seven year old to turn them into strange alien creatures.**

**The creature in front of her nodded, and reached out its gloved hand. "It's hot in this thing."**

**"Try not to think about it," Ines answered, taking the hand in her own gloved one, and then with almost seamless precision the smooth walls of the Nadesico were replaced with the familiar patterns of the Martian ruins.**

******

"Jump complete!" Harry announced, swiveling in his chair. "Successor fleet, dead ahead."

"This is crazy," Megumi sighed.

"What?" Mayumi leaned in towards Minato, who had been muttering something.

She smiled. "'Let's Gekiga-in,'" she repeated. "It seemed like the right thing to say."

Mayumi smiled back and handed her one of the water bottles.

"Have they noticed us yet?" Ruri asked.

"Not yet, but they've probably picked up the jump on their scanners," Megumi answered.

"I see. Minato, take us up and over. Aestivallis, prepare to launch..."

******

"...And Akito," she continued, a little puzzled. "Where's Ines?"

Akito sat back in his cockpit. "She's back on Earth," he said quietly.

Ruri blinked, and the window wavered for a moment. "Give me a full report when you get back," she said. Akito met her gaze through the dark lenses he wore. It was a clear message, and it had nothing to do with reports. His orders were not to die.

******

"They've got us, Captain," Megumi brought the attention of the crew back into focus. "They're demanding our surrender."

"Launch Aestivallis," Ruri said.

******

"Wake up, Yoshio, we have a major problem," Ines shook the sleeping scientist.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" he shot up like a bullet, blinking heavily. "Ai...?"

"Here's the latest: Yurika is going to try to destroy the Artifact, which is going to stick boson jumping in an infinite loop and screw up the universe. We have to stop it from happening."

Yoshio blinked some more. "Build a new one?" he suggested. Ines choked.

"No!"

Three cups of coffee and two rounds of explanations later, a sketch of a plan had formed in Ines' head.

"Unfortunately, the only way to break out of an infinite loop is to stop the program entirely," she began, "This will theoretically re-start time, which is the thing we _don't_ want. So the only chance we have is to stop it before Yurika begins it. Unfortunately, I don't even know if that will work because all the time travel research done in the past couple of years seems to show that we cannot change the past. Still, there is that chance that we can succeed since for us the future has not yet happened." Actually, that was the very thing she had claimed impossible when Ameko brought it up. She had her suspicions about the "future" she and Akito had been presented with.

Yoshio muttered something under his breath. "So I guess we have to scrap the plans for the new Artifact."

"On the contrary, we're going to build it right now."

Yoshio turned bloodshot eyes on her. "Make up your damn mind already."

Ines smiled tightly and adopted her Explanation Lady look. "We're going to create an incomplete Artifact and substitute Yurika's coordinates with our own right as she jumps. Time and space mean nothing to the Artifact so theoretically it should be possible for two Artifacts to inhabit the same space at the same time. So if, instead of jumping the Artifact into _itself_, she jumps it into a _new_ Artifact, then there will be no infinite loop. _And_ if we write the codes correctly, we can erase all duplicate commands and meld the two Artifacts into one."

"That's crazy," was Yoshio's reaction. "More than crazy. That's the talk of a psychopath. There is absolutely no research to back this up. You're being a philosopher and hoping to high heaven that you're right. It would be easier just to search under every rock on Mars for Misumaru Yurika's whereabouts and then ask her nicely not to destroy time."

"No, no, I'm right," Ines insisted. "The Artifact isn't part of _nature_. It doesn't follow some vague natural law. It is a _computer_, and therefore by its very nature is governed by logic. As long as every command we make is found _true_ by the program, then it will work."

Yoshio remained unconvinced. Ines sighed. "Besides, even if Yurika doesn't try to destroy the Artifact, the Successors will take over and all of us will be dead anyway." Still no reaction from the other man. "Look," Ines was rapidly losing patience, as well as wasting precious time, "I'm not asking your permission or opinion. I'm going to do this whether you agree or not. I'd just like you to know that if you aren't here proofreading my work there will almost certainly be double the chance for errors, at least. And the more errors I have, the more likely it will be that this will fail altogether."

That may not have converted him to her cause, but it certainly motivated him to look over her shoulder and make sure she wasn't accidentally spelling out their doom in her programming.

******

"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry _up_!" Yukina snapped impatiently.

"This is the stupidest plan you've ever had, Yukina!" Jun said as she pulled him by the arm. "This is going to get us both killed and won't help anything!"

"How do you know that?" Yukina smiled deviously. "There's a method to this madness."

Jun remained unconvinced. Yukina sighed. "Trust me," she said, lowering her eyelids seductively.

Jun turned bright red and pulled backwards even more, and remained unconvinced. Yukina sighed again and went back to the more effective method of getting what she wanted-- dragging.

******

Dustin Harrison was a guard with a mission. He was the top of his class, top of his division, never beaten in battle, cream of the crop. He had a minigun and a uniform; he had a red headband. No one would ever get past him, because he was just that good. He smiled at his reflection in the window as he passed it before turning around to walk back the way he had come. Yes, he was a good-looking man.

He was also knocked out because he hadn't been paying attention.

"Come on!" Admiral Jackht's gruff voice said. "You think you can spend a war sitting on your rears in a cushy cell? Get up!" He told the amazed crew when he opened the door.

Araragi remembered to take Dustin's minigun on the way out.

******

**Akito glanced around the ruins, shifting his weight to one foot and back as he took it all in. "What now?" he asked finally.**

**Ines settled on a strip of stone that jutted out from the wall. "Now, we wait." Her voice buzzed strangely because of the suit. "Sit over there, and don't take your helmet off."**

**Akito complied, tapping his foot impatiently as time went on.**

**"Where is she?"**

**"She's coming."**

**As if on cue, a pulsating spot of energy began to gather in one corner. After a few seconds, a crying little girl fell through it.**

**Akito was on his feet and at her side immediately. "Don't cry," he said. "It's okay."**

**Ines flinched in unison with Ai at the buzzing half-words coming from Akito's suit. She could hear him speaking normally over the radio in her suit, but their actual voices were probably distorted by the polarized retrospect particles being emitted by their suits to block boson waves from the new Artifact. But even though she realized that, the distortion of Akito's voice was terrifying.**

**Ai was even more scared, and burst into tears. "I want my _Mommy! _Mister! _Mister!!"___**

**Akito knelt beside her and took her trembling hands in his gloved ones. "He's not far away," he said slowly and carefully, to make himself understood.**

**Ai sniffed and stopped crying. "He's not?"**

**"He's very close," Akito said. "We're going to send you to see him."**

**"Really?"******

**"Really," Ines knelt as well. "We'll send you to him soon, but first we need to tell you some stuff, okay?"**

**Ai sniffled again. "Okay."**

******

"Okay," Ryoko told the pilots, "Standard formation. Hikaru, Akatsuki and Tenkawa, take the left. Izumi, you and the Jovian follow me up the right."

A loud cough emanated from the general area of Tsukai's window. Ryoko blinked.

"You bring up the rear," she added as an afterthought.

"Anything for the most lovely commander," Tsukai declared. "Let's go kick some Successor ass!"

"Not till my signal," Ryoko snapped. "Then we can move in."

"Aw, Ryoko-chan..." 

"That includes you, you perverted cheat! Don't you dare try to sneak on ahead again."

"'Cheat?'" Saburota gasped in mock horror. "Now, now, Ryoko, you know our relationship is casual."

"I will _casually_ kick your ass if you don't shut up-- then we'll see what kind of relationship problems you have!"

"Bad break up?" Tsukai asked Hikaru.

"It was Mortal Combat," Izumi answered.

I won fair and square. It's not my fault you suck at video games." Saburota said primly.

"I may suck at video games but I'm going to kick your ass right now."

"You're on," Saburota replied cheerfully. "But if you're worried about cheating you should keep an eye on Mr. President over there."

The pilots wheeled around to see Akatsuki's Aestivallis disappearing into a large knot of enemy drones.

"_Akatsuki, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"_

"Don't shout, Ryoko, I can hear you just fine."

"Answer my question!"

"I'm blowing up drones, in case you couldn't tell. Care to join me?"

"_No, _we don't care to...Tenkawa!" Ryoko growled as Akito and Tsukai followed Nergal's chairman. "Wait for the rest of us!"

And so, like always, the pilots began the battle with a sufficient bang.

******

"Are you sure she has everything right?" Aritomo asked anxiously. 

"Yes, sir," the attendant replied, glancing up at Yurika briefly. "But we can't begin the jump until the appointed time."

"So..." Aritomo began, as the attendant went back to his work, "We wait, then?"

"Yes, sir, we wait."

Some minutes passed. Aritomo stood staring dramatically at Yurika, who remained-- well, statuesque.

Aritomo frowned. "Someone didn't plan the timing of this story very well." 

(Gomen ne!! says the author)

******

"Fire beam cannon," Ruri ordered. The beam sliced straight through the Successor's front flank, but left the majority of the ships unharmed.

"Captain, they have a distortion field!" Harry wailed needlessly. The Nadesico lurched to the side under heavy fire from the fleet, depositing Mayumi in Harry's lap and Erina on the floor against Minato's chair.

"This is insane, Captain!" Megumi cried. "It's a pointless suicide mission unless we can weaken their fleet without taking any more damage."

"The PT Engine," Erina offered, pulling herself to her feet. "It would be too expensive for the Successors to equip every ship with a separate distortion field, even ignoring the dangers of having so many fields in such close proximity. If we can take out the ships carrying the field boosters, we can make it out of this alive."

"We can't use the PT cannon on people," Ruri answered mechanically. With Yurika, it had never even been an issue. After the first time she had never used it again and no one had tried to make her.

"Why not? I have to remind you that this fleet is attempting to destroy the peace that we fought for. And what does it matter if we kill them with the beam cannon or the PT Engine? In the end, they'll be equally dead."

Ruri stared at the fleet spreading almost endlessly in front of her. Was Erina right? Was it truly any less humane to destroy them with the PT cannon? Fleetingly, she remembered the Nadesico's first mission; one that ended disastrously with the annihilation of all the refugees on Mars. And yet, how many lives had the Nadesico's subsequent missions saved? Was it worth it?

"Captain?" Harry brought her focus back to the bridge. "What do we do?"

One glance at his face made up her mind. If she didn't fight to save her loved ones, then what was the point of fighting at all?

"Aestivallis, pull back," she directed. "Fire the PT cannon."

******

Aritomo had retired to a couch to one side of the room, enjoying the last of a bagel and some coffee. It irked him, of course, every time he looked up to see the Artifact totally prepared for everything, but with hours still before any jumps could be attempted with the future. 

"How's the fleet faring?" he asked an attendant as she walked by. The last four times, she had simply rolled her eyes and replied that the ships were standing by with no change in circumstances. This time, however, her news was different.

"The Nadesico is challenging the fleet single-handedly!" she announced. "So far the shields are holding, but Admiral Machida says he cannot count on an victory unless his forces can dispose of the ship faster. The Nadesico is the greatest threat the enemy has against us, sir."

Nergal UE had, of course, refused to accept the terms of surrender. Aritomo glanced up at the Artifact again. It was entirely plausible that Misumaru Yurika had come to them of her own accord, even disobeying orders from her superiors, in an attempt to save Lapis or the _Lilac's_ crew or both. That act in itself still left the advantage in Successor favor.

"Bring me the girl," he ordered, and the attendant nodded and moved to leave. 

"Hold it right there!" a voice shouted. "Your nefarious scheming will not succeed!"

The doors burst open and the crew of the _Lilac_ poured into the room, many holding guns pilfered from the unconscious guards stacked behind them in the hallway. The attendants raised their hands unconsciously, clustering together near the base of the Artifact. Aritomo's gun was immediately in his hand, but he knew very well that if he fired he would be dead before he got the second shot off. It might have been worth it if he thought he could take out Admiral Jackht, but as it was the treacherous turncoat was standing behind Araragi and just out of Aritomo's line of fire.

"On behalf of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, I place you under arrest," Colonel Araragi continued, his men arranging themselves aesthetically behind him. "We've been authorized to take back the Artifact at any costs."

There was a silence while the two groups stared each other down. 

"We will die before we surrender our cause, JF fools," a Successor technician stepped forward, lowering his hands.

"You're the fool. You cannot help anyone if you are dead," Aritomo remarked, and dropped his weapon. 

The revolver hit the ground with a loud bang, magnified tenfold by the ensuing silence. It took everyone a stunned moment to realize that pistols falling on carpets do not make loud bangs. 

"Tch," a deep voice chided as Aritomo sank to the floor in shock, holding a hand over the patch of blood spreading across his chest. "I always knew you were a weakling."

Kusakabe Haruki emerged from the shadows, his arm wrapped around Lapis's small form. The gun, still smoking, was now being held to her temple. Kusakabe smiled smugly at the JF troops. "Don't move or I'll shoot her. You wouldn't want that, would you? She's an amazing little thing. And she's one of the four known A-class jumpers in the universe. In fact, you can't _afford_ to kill her. Not that it matters." 

Colonel Araragi realized that they were surrounded. Apparently, they had escaped just as the guards were changing shifts, and the relief crews were coming from all sides. 

Kusakabe moved sideways slowly, until he was standing at the base of the Artifact.

"Ms. Misumaru!" he called, "I know you can hear me in there. The coordinates for the jump have been sent to you, yet you refuse to cooperate. Make this jump happen or I'll have everyone here killed."


	16. In Thirty Years

Disclaimer: If you want to read one that badly go back to one of the other chapters.

PART FIFTEEN: In Thirty Years

**"Akito, you can't do this," Ines said softly.**

**Akito didn't move. Ai peeked out curiously from behind him, but she couldn't understand the mechanical wrenching of their distorted voices. **

**"Akito, we can't do anything to change it now-- she _has_ to go back," Ines spoke into the radio again. "You can't save her from any of this. It's _already happened_."**

**"How do you know?" came his reply, still metallic and buzzy even over the radio. "If we take her back with us now..."**

**"Then what exactly do you think will happen? The Nadesico probably won't exist, and even if it did it would have been destroyed on Mars. What are you trying to accomplish by saving me? All you'll do is guarantee everyone else's deaths. Isn't that what you started out trying to stop? Doomsday?"**

**"I made a promise, Ai!" he protested.**

**"Let it go!" Ines insisted. "You've spent your entire life living in either the past or the future. But this is me, talking to you now. I would not give up my memories for anything. Even though you think it's for the best, you'd be taking away more than you were saving, if we sent Ai to Earth after Utopia was destroyed."**

**Akito didn't know why he bothered. First Yurika, then Ai... it was almost like the fact that he was trying to _protect_ them meant absolutely nothing.**

**Ines took his silence as an agreement. "Ai, do you have the disk?"**

**"Yup!" she answered brightly.**

**"Okay. We're going to send you to see Mr. Akito now."**

**"Okay!"**

**Akito turned away, but a little hand grabbed his through the glove. "Bye, bye, Mister Alien," she said.**

**He couldn't help but smile. "See you, Ai."**

**"Akito," Ines's voice came through the radio, "We had better get going as well."**

******

_"Aestivallis, pull back!"_

"Here we go," Akatsuki grinned. This was the most fun he'd allowed himself in ages. "Ready, Genichiro?" he called over his private line.

"We'll be jumping momentarily, but there's a problem..."

"Well, fix it," Akatsuki snapped impatiently. "The point here is to _fake_ an accident."

"We can get you aboard, but you'll have to lay low. We've gotten some unexpected visitors, and they're sure to recognize you."

"Damn," Akatsuki swerved around another droid, once again concealing himself from the view of the other pilots. 

"If you can time it right, our jumper can send you straight to the Nadesico B without stopping here. I'm sending him the coordinates now."

"Great, let's do it," Akatsuki closed the window.

"Akatsuki, fall back!" Ryoko's voice came again. 

"I'm com--" he smashed the radio solidly, making sure not to damage any vital systems. "--ing. Ouch."

Cradling his left hand, he shot straight out into the open again, spiraled lazily, and then plummeted back the way he had come. When he was certain that the other pilots had all caught a glimpse of him, he let loose the explosives from the hidden chamber in the leg of his Aestivallis. He vanished just as the first ones were going off.

******

"Akatsuki? Akatsuki?!" Ryoko said, punching at her radio uselessly. All that met her eyes was static. "Dammit, his radio's out," she said. At that moment, his robot came careening through the enemy fighters and then fell back into them, trailing smoke and minor explosions as it went.

"What the..." Saburota began, cut short as a massive blast threw everything in the vicinity backwards.

"Shit," Ryoko whirled around and made towards the last spot she had seen him. Akito had the same idea-- she followed him back the way they had come. Ryoko chewed her lip grimly. She had never lost a pilot-- _never_. Akatsuki may have been a pain in the ass but she refused to believe he was stupid enough to go and get blown up, too.

She and Akito both knew it was useless; if Akatsuki was still alive-- if there was anything left to find-- they would have seen it by now. But even Ruri's repetition of the order to retreat didn't stop them from criss-crossing the area in hopes of finding something... anything.

******

"Ms. Misumaru!" Kusakabe called, "I know you can hear me in there. The coordinates for the jump have been sent to you, yet you refuse to cooperate. Make this jump happen or I'll have everyone here killed."

There was a tense silence. Lapis opened her mouth, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. She was scared. She didn't want to die. Kusakabe tightened his grip around her neck, and then she couldn't hold back the sharp cry of pain and utter fear. Suddenly, Yurika's statue-like face distorted, even though her features seemed to be as immovable as stone. Glowing lines emanated from her face and trailed down her shoulders and across the surface of the Artifact. The JF forces gasped in awe.

Lapis finally found her voice. She couldn't let such a horrible thing happen, even though she was so afraid. "Yurika, stop! He's going to destroy everything!"

******

_I don't want to do this,_ Yurika's consciousness fought with itself. She didn't know what this jump would do, but she was positive it wouldn't be good. The object was massive-- she was sure she would kill herself trying to move it. But if she could do it, then Lapis and the JF troops, who had nothing to do with any of this, could be saved. But what crisis would she be causing if she averted this one? 

She heard Lapis yell and made a split second decision. It was something she had tried before, but this time there was no one there to stop her from trying again. Luckily, this time she was almost certain she knew how to succeed.

She changed the coordinates of the jump, moving the target and the arrival. Then she jumped the Artifact into itself, and into oblivion. She felt herself falling; dying, she was sure, to the morbid serenade of Lapis's screams.

******

Akito abruptly drew in on himself, clutching his head with both hands and yelling in pain. Battle, Nadesico, Akatsuki, everything forgotten, he lost control of his Aestivallis and felt the sickening drop of a free fall right before the pain knocked him out.

******

In her lab, Ines was typing furiously, trying in desperation to finish the last of the codes before time ran out. The virtual model of the Artifact was glowing slightly in the corner of the room, the final pieces being highlighted as they were put into place. Yoshio, proofreading the codes on another console, was interrupted suddenly by a cry of sheer agony. He shot around the lab table to find Ines sobbing on the floor, holding her hands over her ears and curled into a fetal position. Then, just as suddenly, she fainted.

He checked for a pulse, relieved when he found a quite steady one. He looked from the blonde woman to the computer and back. Then he picked up Ines, hurried her over to the couch, and went back to the codes. The little clock by the console read 30 seconds. Yoshio's eyes widened and he dove towards the keyboard. There wouldn't be any time to proofread-- he'd have to try it cold.

******

Across the known universe, boson jumpers began to drop like flies.

******

"Tenkawa? Tenkawa!!" Ryoko cried, watching his Aestivallis falling towards the Moon's surface. Wheeling away from her search, she turned her Aestivallis and plunged after him without another thought.

******

"What are they doing?!" Megumi shot out of her chair to get a closer look.

"Captain, call them back!" Minato cried.

"Akatsuki's not responding, Akito's not responding, Ryoko's not responding..." Megumi flipped buttons uselessly. "Saburota-san, Hikaru, Izumi... please answer me!"

"Oi, we're a little busy here!" Saburota's window appeared and vanished just as quickly.

******

Erina stood with her hands to her mouth; in shock, yes, but a shock of understanding, not of grief. She knew instinctively what had happened, even without the confirmation from the pilots that would alert the rest of the crew.

_"Oh, go crash your Aestivallis!"_

_"I plan on it."_

"Cut the PT Engine," Ruri ordered as the Nadesico got another knock against the starboard side. "Minato, turn the ship and try to pull the fire away from the most damaged sections. Megumi, who _is_ responding?"

"Hikaru and Izumi are trying to help the others but they're up to their necks in enemy fighters."

Erina realized it was quite possible that the ship would not survive this encounter. The only thoughts for Akatsuki that came to her mind at that moment were, "Damn that bastard."

******

"Captain, there are ships coming up behind the Successor fleet!" Harry looked up frantically. "If we're going to use the PT cannon, we need to do it..."

"Wait!" Mayumi yelled, struggling to keep her footing. "Look!"

At that moment an energy blast went sweeping across the Successor rear flanks from behind. The distortion fields, focused forward to defend against the Nadesico C, could not be moved quickly enough to defend against the ship that had snuck up behind them.

"Hey everyone! Miss us?" a chirpy voice shouted. Yukina's smiling face appeared suddenly. "V!"

"Shiratori Yukina, what the _hell_ are you doing?!" Minato was out of her seat in an instant. "Genichiro, if this was your idea I swear I'll..."

"Don't look at me," the Jovian spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "This wasn't my idea at all."

Minato turned accusing eyes to Gort Holy, but chose not to pursue it any further.

"Jun and I figured that since Tenkawa and Ines-san weren't going to hijack the Nadesico A, we'd do it for them. So Jun got both of us to a rendezvous with the Jovians, and then Remmy and Linca here were kind enough to jump us all to meet you," Yukina explained, pointing over her shoulder at the two dark children relaxing in cushioned chairs so large that their feet swung a good foot above the floor. "Them and their classmates back on Earth. It took a lot out of them, poor tikes. They both passed out a few seconds after we jumped. Aren't they just precious when they're sleeping?"

"Yukina, really..." Genichiro sighed in the background and looked heavenward.

"All right, all right. But anyway, aren't you glad to see us?"

"Captain, there's another fleet closing on our position!" Harry interrupted.

"Oh, right, did I mention we brought back-up?"

"Yukina!"

Ruri sat back in her seat. "The Jovians are here." That was the luckiest thing that had happened to her in weeks. Now she could focus her attention on other matters-- like finding her Aestivallis pilots.

******

When Yurika felt the touch against her temples, she snapped out of her oblivion for a second. It was a boson jump, coming through now, here. 

_But the Artifact is gone..._ she thought uselessly. The jump continued, the air (if it was air) around her head rippling with unseen waves of energy. And then it came close enough for her to recognize the jumper.

_Oh Jun..._

And then she understood. She hadn't been able to sense Jun's jump because he hadn't used the Artifact; there was no Artifact to jump him. If time didn't matter to the Artifact, then what was to say that jumps couldn't go through whatever time period the Artifact wanted? And she also understood that it was up to her to make sure Jun got back safely to save Akito.

_Akito,_ she thought, drawing Jun closer and closer until she enveloped his presence completely. Then, with a ripping sensation, she sent him all the way through her.

After that, she was prepared to sink back into the nothingness, knowing that the universe was safe from the Doomsday Akito had been so afraid of. But then the strangest thing of all happened. After she sent Jun on his way, she saw a light. Just a small one, no more than a thread. A slim cord that seemed to reach through her and continue in both directions into infinity. Almost unconsciously, she reached out to touch it. Suddenly, more strings began to appear, radiating outward from her body until all she could see was a solid wall of light. Where the first string met with her fingers, sparks began to fly up, forming new strings in familiar patterns and lines. She felt the moving lights cover her, felt her body stiffen and her senses dull. 

_With my findings, I think I can create an entirely new Artifact!_

She sighed wryly; but now she knew for certain that the Artifact could not be destroyed without destroying the very fabric of time. At least this new one was in Nergal's research lab instead of the Successor base; her plan hadn't failed completely. But as the new Artifact finished itself, she found herself staring at a horrible display in a sort of omniscient dream. She hadn't realized that if she destroyed the Artifact, the jumpers in the universe would feel its effects as much as she would. She saw Ines and Lapis, lying so still she didn't know if they were still alive, she saw Jun collapsed against the bridge of the... no, she wasn't going to ask; she saw Akito...

Akito was falling, and nothing any of the pilots could do would get them there in time to save him, though it looked as if Ryoko would die trying.

_No death,_ Yurika thought frantically, reaching out to this new Artifact that was her only hope. _Please don't let them die. Bring them back safely._

A soft glow spread through her and she reached out to everyone who was hurt without really knowing how. And the jumpers of the universe began to glow with tiny moving lights, boson jumping seemingly at random as Yurika sent them to safe places. 

_My Artifact won't be the cause of so much death_. she decided, remembering the Jovian War. Then, overwhelmed with it all, she sank back into a deep sleep.

******

"Damn!" Yoshio cried uselessly, staring at the blank space across the room. There had been too many errors in his hasty completion of the program for the computer to fix. He'd failed, and now there was no way to change the codes for Yurika's jump. What would happen to them all? What would happen to the very fabric of the universe? And Ines-- poor Ai. As much as he yearned to be a boson jumper, it was times like these he was glad he wasn't one. Though it wouldn't do much good now. 

He figured that most of the past thirty years would be erased from history. He wondered what he would grow up to be, now that he would never find little Ai in the desert and never become obsessed with Mars and its ruins.

He was so lost in his complete misery that he didn't notice it until it was almost done. There was a strange glowing where the virtual Artifact had been constructed. Yoshio choked on the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. If he squinted through the bright light, he could make out the figure of a woman. She was shining with thousands of moving lights, which were flowing around her and weaving into a familiar pattern.

Shocked beyond all reason, he looked down at his screen and got another surprise. The errors in his program were correcting themselves. True, they were not corrections he would have made himself, but they were plausible command codes nevertheless. Apparently, he had done enough to allow for Misumaru Yurika to instinctively put together the rest.

Then, in a bright flash, it was done, and a soft sigh from behind him ensured that Ines was still breathing.

******

"Dammit, Ryoko, stop!" Saburota shouted, finally drawing up even with the other pilot. The two Aestivallis grappled together for a minute, until what Saburota was saying finally reached Ryoko's ears.

"He jumped-- he's okay! If you keep going like this you're going to add another crater to the Lunar Station!" 

Ryoko stopped fighting, breathing heavily. Saburota was right, of course, but damned if she was going to tell him that. "That idiot..." she muttered, gasping. "Never did... listen... to orders."

******

"Incoming message, Captain," Megumi reported. "It's from Mars."

"Thank you, Megumi."

"Captain Hoshino," a gruff voice said immediately.

"Admiral Jackht?" Ruri asked in return. The Admiral nodded shortly.

"We've apprehended Kusakabe Haruki and request he be brought into custody as soon as possible."

Ruri gripped the armrests of her chair a little tighter. "Is your crew in good shape, Admiral?"

"They're all quite well and clamoring to see you, Captain."

Ruri blushed slightly. 

"Is Lapis okay?" Harry demanded, standing. Jackht nodded again. 

"She gave us a scare but she'll be all right. She boson jumped to a safe spot when things began to get rough."

"Captain, Tsukiomi Genichiro reports that the Successor fleet has surrendered," Megumi turned around. "The JF will handle it from here."

"Then we'll head for the chulip on Eden colony as soon as we've finished tying up loose ends," Ruri said. She turned back to Admiral Jackht. "Have you retrieved the Artifact as well?"

"The Artifact and Ms. Misumaru vanished early on-- we thought you might know what happened to them."

"I do. They're here on Earth with us," Yamasaki Yoshio piped up, his window taking up a small corner of the screen. "She seems stable enough, but to avoid any possible damage to her we have to wait until the Artifact 'calms down' to get her out," he added sheepishly. Everyone on the bridge blinked at him a few times.

"How'd the Artifact get to Earth?" Minato asked.

"Where's Ines?" Megumi said simultaneously.

"Ines is unconscious. I think if you take a moment to think about it, you'll notice that _all_ the boson jumpers are unconscious. It's really not my job to explain things, but from what I could pick up from Ines, Misumaru Yurika attempted to destroy the Artifact."

"She's really got a one-track mind, hasn't she?" Erina muttered.

"Apparently, this time she would have actually succeeded," Yoshio addressed the dark-haired woman. "I'm not too sure exactly how this worked, but somehow we seem to have stopped Doomsday."

"And now the Artifact is on Earth," Megumi said. Yoshio nodded.

"And Yurika is okay," Minato remarked. Another nod.

"So..." Harry frowned, "Does that mean everything is over?"

"Almost," Ruri answered, rising. What was to come was bound to be less pleasant than what had just happened. "Harry-kun, please take over."

Erina was on her heels as she left the bridge.

******

Ryoko didn't even look up when Ruri came in. She was sitting, surrounded by the other pilots, with her arms wrapped around her legs and a bleary expression on her face.

Erina pushed in front of Ruri, then came to a complete halt. She didn't know what to do or say; half of her even cursed Akatsuki for making them feel so guilty. "Where's Tenkawa?" she finally choked out. Ryoko's eyes widened, then narrowed again.

"Gone."

"Where?"

"Hell if I know!" At least that got her moving. Ryoko began to pace the floor. "At least he's alive. Shouldn't you be asking about your boss? Or is that all he was to you? Are you truly that heartless?"

Erina almost snapped, but managed to keep stiff control. "Where is Akatsuki?"

Ryoko stopped pacing. The others looked up. "The idiot went and got himself killed."

"I see," Erina turned on her heel and left the room. Let them think she was heartless. It would benefit her later when they all thought twice about asking her for favors. And they would be asking for them... it occurred to her that Akatsuki had only one person he could leave his assets to. One person who knew he was still alive and knew all the secrets of the company.

She smiled lightly to herself as the door swished closed behind her. She'd have to talk to Prospector about opening the "late" Akatsuki's will.

******

Ryoko bared her teeth but refrained from going after Erina. "That vicious bitch," she exclaimed. "He really didn't mean anything to her."

"Ryoko, everyone grieves differently," Ruri said gently. "Can you all tell me what happened?"

******

"Hey, Mister," a soft voice called him back from dreamland.

"Ai?" Akito asked, blinking in the bright lights, "Where are we?"

"We're in the infirmary in the Nergal research lab in Osaka," Ines informed him. "You were jumped here after you passed out-- I assume Yurika sent you where you could get medical attention."

Akito sat up abruptly. "Is she all right?"

Ines smiled. "She's here, actually. They're helping her out of the Artifact right now, actually."

Akito swung his legs back and forth until the numbness began to fade. It left an unpleasant tingle in its wake. "I need to see her."

"Are you sure you'll be all right? I'm still having trouble standing up straight," she motioned to the chair supporting her limp frame.

"I need to be there this time."

Ines hesitated before nodding. "Help me up-- I'll take you."

******

"Are we too late?" Akito asked, walking as quickly as his numbed limbs would allow. He didn't know how long he had been unconscious but he wasn't willing to waste any more time waiting for the pins and needles to disappear from his legs.

Yoshio shook his head. "The Artifact was so active that we couldn't get near her until just a few minutes ago." They stopped just outside an open doorway. "It was excellent timing, actually. The Nadesico C jumped in from Eden colony not five minutes ago. Aritomo is dead, Kusakabe has been captured, the Successor hierarchy has fallen apart...it looks like you succeeded after all." 

Akito nodded absently, grit his teeth, and began to move again. Yoshio moved to support Ines.

Yurika's eyes shut tighter at the harsh light, refusing to open. Her dreams were pleasant and warm, and she was not ready to relinquish them to cold reality just yet. She was vaguely aware of someone shaking her, because her shoulder kept moving and a dark shadow passed above her, back and forth.

"Wake up, princess."

She couldn't tell if the words were inside her head or whether someone had uttered them aloud, but they stirred enough emotion in her that she managed to summon the energy to open her eyes. Blinking lazily, she could just make out brown spiky hair framing a pale face obscured by dark glasses.

"Welcome back," he said, and took the mask off. He tucked it in his pocket, confident he would never need it again.

"Akito," Yurika smiled faintly. "You came back for me."

"What kind of knight slays the dragon and leaves the princess?" he smiled back. Yurika's face softened dreamily and she reached up to touch his face, as if to prove that he was really there. For a moment it seemed to the crew of the Nadesico, who had crowded in behind the pair, that a fairy tale ending was truly in order. Yet Yurika's face twisted abruptly, into an expression of absolute horror. She pushed herself upright to a sitting position, grasping first at his arms and then at her own, finally wrapping her hands across her chest as if something pained her there.

"Yurika..."

"I can't feel anything!" she exclaimed, pressing her fingers to her arms frantically. In a desperation she began to scratch at her shoulder, clawing blindly at the bare skin; Akito grabbed her hand before she could hurt herself. Yurika burst into tears.

"All the activity in the Artifact must have finally short circuited her nerve endings." Ines murmured. "Of all of us, she was the best suited to be the Human Imaging System, but it was still too much for her in the end. It was the same with you, Akito, right?"

Akito nodded the affirmative, wrapping Yurika in a tight embrace. He knew she could sense the warmth of his touch, even if she could not feel the touch itself. 

"Will it take her three years to heal, like Akito?" Lapis asked, hovering worriedly behind the adults.

Erina frowned. "Only the ones that are damaged will heal." she said. "But I'd bet most of her nerve endings are dead. There's no way to fix them."

Yoshio grinned. "Maybe there is." He glanced down at Ines, who was leaning on his arm. "Remember the samples we took of her DNA? We've got her gene map. Maybe we can rebuild some of the burnt bits."

"That could take months!" Erina protested. Yukina shoved her.

"What is your _problem?_" Megumi asked.

"She's just so bitter that she wants everyone else to be miserable too." Minato sniffed.

That started a catfight; the others just zoned out the shouting.

"Months is still better than years." Ruri commented.

Yurika's sobs had subsided by then. "Can you heal Akito the rest of the way, too?"

Ines smiled kindly. "Akito will be easy to fix, if all that's wrong are some dead nerve endings. I can't understand why no one thought of that before."

"You didn't have me around before." Yoshio remarked breezily. Ines rolled her eyes.

"Modesty isn't one of your best features, is it?" she asked.

Ruri blinked as Ines and Yoshio exchanged glances. Her too? Why did grownups always act so stupid around people they liked? "Bakabakka." she muttered under her breath, though without the usual conviction it normally held. 

******

"No, wait," Yurika protested as she was being helped from the room on shaky footing. "The Artifact..."

"Is safe here," Erina finished for her. Yurika shook her head and looked at Akito beseechingly. Akito looked to Ines, who also nodded. The blonde took Yurika's hand and the three began to glow. Then there was a bright flash of light.

When everyone stopped blinking, they were met with an empty room. Yurika smiled dazzlingly, then fainted and fell against Akito, who caught her gently but staggered on his own unsteady feet. Erina gaped at the blank space where the Artifact had been.

"Wha..how..." she stuttered. Ines pushed her glasses op onto her hair.

"This is the last How and Why of this mission," she smiled tiredly. "The Artifact is boson jumping itself into the future. That gives us that much time to end the conflicts that come up between us all. There isn't a tangible Artifact to fight over any more-- not for another 30 years, at least."

She shot Akito a knowing look. He returned the smile.


	17. Epilogue and Alternate Closing

EPILOGUE

And Other Extras: The Alternate Closing

**EPILOGUE**

Erina really wasn't surprised to find a visitor in her office six months later. He'd taken an extended vacation, of course, in an effort to avoid her lethal anger when the contents of the will had been disclosed, but she knew he'd be back before long. His ambitions were as high as his patience was low.

"Akatsuki," she said coolly, settling in what had been his chair and daring him to comment on it. He didn't.

"It seems to me that we're on somewhat equal footing now," he answered, unfazed. "Call me Nagare."

"We _would_ be on equal footing except that you left the company to Gort Holy, Akatsuki."

"With the condition that the operations of said company be left solely up to you, my dear greedy Ms. Won." He tucked his arms behind his head thoughtfully. "I know very well that you'd have me assassinated in a second if you thought the company was truly yours. It's purely for insurance purposes."

"Do you really think so highly of me?" was her sarcastic reply.

"Well, I have had my doubts," he smiled amiably, handing her a company flyer he'd pilfered from the bulletin board in the hall. "Holding a veteran's celebration, complete with fireworks and a barbecue to be followed by a formal ball-- it seems a little sentimental for you. Especially making the Nadesico's crew the guests of honor. Though you were always a little taken with the fry cook."

Erina had a million retorts to that barb, but chose to keep her mouth shut. Six months of running the solar system's largest company had taught her a lot more than she let on.

"Yurika and Akito have finished their rehabilitation," she commented instead. "A little worse for wear but almost completely healed. Megumi will be married next month. Yurika's told me she and Akito are going to adopt Lapis. Aoi Jun has been promoted. Ruri and Yukina made it into Tokyo University-- no surprise with Ruri; we're all still trying to figure out how Yukina did it-- and until now you had left me in peace. There's a lot to celebrate."

"So there is," Akatsuki grinned. "So there is. Well, enough sentimentality. We have some planning to do, Chairwoman Won."

******

"Akito?"

"Yeah?"

"Is that Lapis? I thought she was with Ruri."

Akito looked up to see white hair cascading over the park bench to the left. "It doesn't look like it."

"I'll go talk to her."

"No," he pulled her back gently. "Let me go."

"Why the long face?"

Lapis looked up in surprise, suddenly very glad she had never been one to cry. "It's nothing."

"Oh, I get it." He sat down next to her. "Afraid of fireworks."

Lapis smiled tentatively. "No."

"You can't be afraid of picnics?"

Another short smile. "No."

There was a pause. "Second thoughts about this adoption?"

"No!" her head snapped up and she searched his face fearfully. "Of course not! It's just..."

"Just what?"

Lapis looked down at her hands. "I was never a part of the Nadesico's crew. I shouldn't be here."

So that was it. "Lapis, that's ridiculous. You're as much a part of the crew as any of the rest of us. Omoikane thinks so, right?"

"But I wasn't around for the Jovian War-- I shouldn't be a guest of honor. That's what they'll all think."

"Lapis," he chuckled, "Do you think Harry is brave?"

"Of course..."

"Do you think he deserves to be a guest of honor?"

"Yes! He was the Nadesico's operator, and he's very brave..." she blushed slightly.

"Well, Harry wasn't around for the Jovian War, either. And you know what? You're just as brave as Harry."

Lapis opened her mouth and closed it again. 

"In fact, without you Harry must be very lonely. After all, you're the only one his age around." There was a pause while he let her digest that. "Come on, let's go before we miss Howmei's teriyaki."

Lapis smiled at him, and Akito smiled back. Then they both looked back to see Yurika, standing in a slightly dejected pose some way off. Suddenly, Akito began to laugh.

"When we first met up on the Nadesico, I couldn't have a moment's peace because she was always there talking to me," he explained as he and Lapis started back. "But now she talks less and I yell less, and there's more silence than I ever thought I'd hear."

Lapis looked up at him with a perfectly straight face and said, "Then maybe you should invite Ryoko and Saburota over for dinner."

"Hmm. They are an interesting pair, aren't they?"

"They're idiots." Lapis returned, never blinking an eye.

Akito checked his stride for a moment, glancing down at Lapis in surprise. Then he shook it off and kept walking. 

******

Ines glanced at her watch. Half and hour till it would be dark enough to watch the fireworks. She was already late for dinner and strongly suspected that most of the food would be gone when she got there.

"Ines!"

She stopped mid-step and turned around, hands in pockets. Yoshio caught up to her, waving.

"Ai, there's someone I'd like you to see," he smiled, tugging lightly at the small fingers wrapped around his own. "This is my daughter, Ameko. Say hello, Ai-ko"

Ines knelt in front of the little black haired girl, strangely unsurprised. "Hello, Ameko. My name is Ines, but you can call me Ai."

"Ai-okaasan!" Ameko beamed, "My daddy calls me Ai-ko because he loves me. He must love you too!"

Ines looked up to see Yoshio's blushing face. "She's very opinionated." he explained sheepishly, but anyone could tell he was very proud of her.

"I'm not _opinated_, I'm five!" Ameko frowned up at her father.

"Come on, Ai-ko," Ines laughed, standing. "Have you ever seen fireworks before?"

******

"I think green hair looks good on you, though."

"Stop gloating."

"Maybe you should switch to RPGs if you're so sensitive about losing."

She glared at him. "Maybe you should take the stairs."

Saburota shook his head calmly. "There's worse things than riding in an elevator with me."

"The elevator could be stuck."

He glanced down at her curiously. "Izumi says you're good at Virtua Fighter."

"Better than you."

"Wanna play?"

"The only VFXII ring is in downtown Harajuku and it's always busy."

"So we call ahead and reserve."

"I don't want to," Ryoko snapped.

"That's because you know I'd win."

"I don't have anything to prove to you!" she yelled, losing her temper. "And I would so kick your ass!"

"Then why are you afraid to fight me?"

"Fine! I will!"

"Virtua Fighter XII to the death!" Saburota declared, and he and Ryoko shook on it.

"So when am I going to have to kick your sorry hide back to Jupiter?"

"Whenever you think you're ready."

"That's not good enough-- what day?" 

"I said whenever you're ready."

"I could take you any day!"

"You're welcome to."

"Not like that!" Ryoko turned bright red. "So pick a day!"

The door opened, but both of them lingered in the elevator.

"Let's do it now."

"We _can't _do it now, we have to get a ring first! Tell me a date!"

"Tomorrow?" he suggested.

"Not enough time!"

Saburota frowned. "How much time do we _need?_ What, are we going to pass out invitations?"

"Don't be stupid!" Ryoko retorted. "Next Tuesday! All right?"

"Fine."

She gave him one last glare for good measure as they turned to exit the elevator. Only to find about twenty curious people standing outside snacking on teriyaki, headed up by none other than Akito and Yurika. The admiral was grinning happily, eyes shining with some emotion that Ryoko was positive she didn't like.

"You're getting _married?"_ she cooed. "I've never done a wedding before! This is wonderful! I didn't even know you two were engaged! But will we be able to get everything arranged by next Tuesday?"

Ryoko flushed scarlet and moved as far away from Saburota as she could. "We're not getting married!"

"It seems like awfully short notice, but I guess it must have been a whirlwind romance..."

"We're not getting married!" Ryoko cried in alarm. "Hey, stop laughing, you idiot!" Saburota only laughed harder.

"That's so beautiful! I wonder if we can arrange for a triple wedding with Yukina and Jun and Megumi and Aiden... then five of my best friends will all be getting married together!"

"I didn't know Jun and Yukina were getting married, too," Mayumi commented.

"They're not," Akito sighed.

"Yet!" Yurika interceded cheerily. "But with all this wedding spirit in the air I'm sure it can be arranged..."

"_We're not getting married!"_ Ryoko yelled, but no one seemed to be listening to her.

"When did he propose?" 

"He didn't!"

Yurika wasn't listening. "I know a great little jewelry shop over on..."

"No!" Ryoko looked to Akito for help, but Akito was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Saburota, tearing at the corners of his eyes and still chuckling, took her elbow and began to lead her gently through the crowd.

"Come on, 'honey,' or we'll miss the fireworks. Ow."

******

Harry sat down next to the Captain, who flashed him a warm look and offered him part of her blanket. They ended up sitting so closely together that their legs touched under the calico quilt while they balanced their food on their knees. Harry blushed, but didn't move away. Then, on his other side, Lapis sat down. She steadied his plate before it fell in his lap and gave him a tentative smile. The girls regarded each other with their emotionless faces, and then both looked away, pretending they didn't care. Harry sat rigidly in between them, wondering miserably how he got himself into _this_ situation.

Yukina observed the three and then turned back to look at Yurika and Akito, who were trailing the bunch just behind Megumi with her fiancé and Ryoko, who was busy punching Saburota's arm while he laughed at her embarrassed face. Then her gaze returned to Ruri, Harry, and Lapis. "That's just weird." she announced, and dragged Jun away to sit in the back.

******

"When was the first time we watched the fireworks together, Akito?" Yurika asked dreamily, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I don't remember," He admitted sheepishly. Yurika giggled.

"Neither do I."

Akito laughed as well. "It's all right. We've got plenty of other anniversaries to celebrate."

"You owe me three years' worth of birthday presents!" Yurika exclaimed mischievously. 

"Happy birthday." 

At that moment, the fireworks started, and Akito and Yurika shared a series-ending kiss.

~owari~

~~ alternate closing ~~

*note* This is an impossibly happy, tie-up-the-loose-ends ending that isn't really essential to the story. If you'd like to leave some ominous mystery concerning the future and the Martian Successors, then don't read it.

Ameko watched as the light faded behind Ines and Akito. Then she turned just as silently and opened the door in the back of the room. She looked back once before closing it behind her.

"That was the strangest experience of my life," she said. "I just met the woman who raised me and she's younger than I am!"

"Strange for you?!" an older voice laughed. "I finally remember what I looked like without gray hair!"

"Ne, Akito, you don't have any gray hair!" Age had not compromised Yurika's cheerful spirit. In fact, it hadn't compromised much of her at all. The retrospect particles that had made Ines famous also seemed to have a reverse effect on the aging process on the cells of the people boson jumping, lengthening the average life-span up to 15 years, especially in the cases of the boson jumpers.

"I'll always wonder," another voice remarked, "Whether or not this whole ordeal was absolutely necessary."

"Ines-san, you know as well as I do that it would not be worth the risk to test the necessity of it," Remmy admonished, rubbing a washcloth over the bar-code mark on his neck until the lines began to disappear. "Besides, we've already done it."

"I know," she sighed, "But it seems dangerously ironic to be lying to the past." 

Akito laughed. "You're just upset because you believed that "greatest mind of all time" line."

Ines sniffed. "It was pure truth, _Mister."_

"Hey, Ai-ko here was so terrified that she'd accidentally give too much away that she had to convince herself that the end of the universe was actually happening," Remmy chuckled.

"Is _that_ what you were doing?" Ines asked. She threw up a hand dramatically. "'What if she doesn't come, Remmy?' I thought you were practicing for a B-rate dubbing job, Ai-ko."

"I don't need this grief from you, Okaasan," Ameko sniffed. "I'm a method actor!"

"Don't get so defensive," Ines retorted. "This ordeal is finally over. We can't help but be happy."

"And relieved," Akito rolled his eyes. "Now I can finally retire in peace before I die."

"Akito!" Yurika laughed.

"Idiots," Ruri remarked, dark shades resting on top of her head.


End file.
